Complaint
A viewer complained that the programme’s coverage of NHS waiting lists did not adequately reflect Government underinvestment in the NHS but did highlight the disruption caused by strikes by junior doctors, fostering the impression that the doctors were to blame for long waiting lists. The ECU considered the complaint principally in the light of the Â鶹Éç’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The ECU considered that, in the course of a live broadcast which lasted over three hours, an appropriately wide range of viewpoints on waiting lists and other issues concerning the NHS was represented. It noted particularly that the programme included an interview with the Health Secretary in which he was robustly questioned on funding, and that the junior doctors’ strike action was presented as only one among a range of pressures on the NHS.Â
Not upheld