Public Retains Great Trust In Doctors

Doctors continue to come out top in MORI's annual poll of the most trusted professionals or occupational groups. Nine in ten continue to say that they trust doctors to tell the truth. Public approval for the way doctors do their jobs remains high at around 9 in 10.

Ninety-one per cent of the public said they trusted doctors to tell the truth, compared with 87% for teachers, 74%for professors and 72% for judges.

Although doctors' approval ratings remain solid, the position of other professions does fluctuate. The public's trust in clergymen and television news readers both fell during the year, while trust in the police rose by five points.

Politicians, journalists and Government ministers were voted the least trustworthy, with no more than one in five trusting them to tell the truth, but trust in journalists rose by five points to 18% this year.

MORI has been tracking public trust in the professions for 20 years. Trust in the medical profession has risen steadily since 1983 from 82% 20 years ago, to 91% in 2003.

When asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they were with the way various groups were doing their jobs, as in 2002 the public again puts nurses top, followed by doctors, teachers and dentists. Nurses were also regarded as the most underpaid by 81% of those asked.

The proportion of the public who think doctors are doing their job very or fairly well stands at 90% this year, which is consistent with last year.

The public is sympathetic to the pressures on doctors. Sixty per cent think that patients expect too much from doctors and nearly eight out of ten (78%) think that people don't do enough themselves to prevent ill health. They are happy to see a nurse for less serious conditions and to have repeat prescriptions issued by a pharmacist. For hospital care, 55% want to see a consultant to ensure they receive the best treatment.

In a warning on bureaucracy, six out of ten say that doctors spend too much time on paperwork and not enough on seeing patients. Nearly half say that they would rather spend longer with their GP than get an appointment more quickly, against 31% who disagreed. On the importance of patient choice, 63% say that being treated in their local hospital is their top consideration and in a separate question more than half (54%) say that being able to choose their hospital is the top priority.

Topline Results

• 2,141 interviews conducted with adults aged 15+
• Conducted on the MORI face-to-face Omnibus using CAPI
• Fieldwork conducted between 6-10 February 2003
• Data weighted to the known profile of the British population
• An asterisk ('*') indicates a percentage less than 0.5%, but greater than zero
• Where figures do not add up to 100%, this is due to computer rounding or multiple answers
• Base 'All' unless otherwise indicated. Base sizes are unweighted

Q1 Now I will read you a list of different types of people. For each would you tell me if you generally trust them to tell the truth, or not?

Q2 How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the way the following types of people do their jobs?

Q3 Which, if any, of the types of people on this card, do you feel, are underpaid for the job they do? Just read out the letter or letters which apply.

Q4 How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements about doctors?

Q5 As you may have heard or read, doctors are sometimes reported in the press or on TV in an unfavourable light.

Thinking about those stories and taking your answer from this showcard, how well or badly would you say that most doctors do their job nowadays?

Q6 How many times in the past twelve months or so have you personally?