"It should ring alarm bells": 66% of surveyed doctors unconvinced by Health Secretary

A new survey has revealed the profound lack of confidence doctors have in the current Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, with two thirds saying that they are not confident the Secretary of State understands the risks currently facing health and social care.
Members of the websiteDoctors.net.uk have expressed doubts about the Health Secretary.Members of the websiteDoctors.net.uk have expressed doubts about the Health Secretary.
Members of the websiteDoctors.net.uk have expressed doubts about the Health Secretary.

Having replaced the similarly unpopular Jeremy Hunt as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care following Hunt’s promotion to Foreign Secretary four months ago, Hancock's reputation amongst members of the website Doctors.net.uk - all of whom are GMC-registered doctors - has been revealed to be overwhelmingly negative.

Upon the MP for West Suffolk's appointment to the role in July, seven out of 10 Doctors.net.uk members were unsure about the appointment while just 15% welcomed his promotion. After barely 10 weeks in the job, Hancock's already negligible popularity has nevertheless plummeted, with just 5% of those asked claiming that they were confident in Hancock.

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“At a time when NHS organisations are reporting increasing primary care and hospital demand, [a] failure to comply with operational targets, financial difficulties, and challenges with recruitment and retention of staff, we [also] move into winter and to Brexit," said a statement from the Doctors.net.uk medical team.

"The need for clear leadership and direction for one of the UK’s most valued assets has probably never been greater," it continued. "These statistics from a small but significant sample of doctors should ring alarm bells amongst our politicians and the general public.”