Political spin and public opinion: #Imatworkjeremy

Abstract

“ #Imatworkjeremy. Not just this weekend, in fact as a full time trauma consultant, I work one weekend a month with scheduled operating and clinical sessions from 8am to 10pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.” There has been something of a political storm in the UK health service recently, sparked by the allegation from the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, that senior and junior doctors are not working a full seven-day week, and the consequent lack of services is ‘placing lives at risk’. The ensuing public relations war between the British Medical Association and the Department of Health has been one of the biggest public spats of recent British political history, overtaking many of the social media channels and culminating in over 200 000 signatures to a petition calling for the resignation of Jeremy Hunt.1 The Government response is interesting. Citing a paper2 (although not …