ArticleQuality & safety in health care2004
Public trust in health care: the system or the doctor?
Article in Quality & safety in health care, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 275 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trauma-informed healthcare from the perspectives of women who have experienced sexual violence in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-ethnography.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- Trustworthy management in hospital settings: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2023Pooled it
- A Matter of Trust: Building and Validating the Dental Hygienist Trust Scale.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Social Trust Profile Transitions and Health-Seeking Behavior: A Latent Transition Analysis of Three-Wave Panel Data from China.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Predictors of low trust in national healthcare systems in 30 countries.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Psychological and sociodemographic contexts of attitudes towards new genomic techniques (NGT) foods and products in Poland.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The relationship between health literacy and public trust in the health system: evidence from an Iranian setting.BMC public health · 2026Article
- From ground realities to policy: a framework for assessing multipolar health system governance in conflict-affected and high-risk areas.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Trust transfer from medical AI to doctors and hospitals: Integrating digital, AI, and scientific literacy in a cross-sectional framework.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Ethical issues in Iranian pediatrics: a qualitative study.BMC medical ethics · 2025Article
- Public satisfaction and trust towards the health system in China and associated factors: a mixed-methods study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- 'I've just got to take that risk and have faith . . .': The challenge of gaining and maintaining trust in patients undergoing knee surgery with a regional anaesthetic.Journal of perioperative practice · 2025Article
- Trust in healthcare and perceived discrimination in Sweden: a fixed effects analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Internet usage time and trust in doctors: evidence from China.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Development and validation of the Trust in Multidimensional Healthcare Systems Scale (TIMHSS).International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- The impact of Internet use and involvement on residents' attitudes to healthcare in China: A propensity score matching analysis.PloS one · 2024Article
- Article
- Preferences in the Willingness to Download an mHealth App: Discrete Choice Experimental Study in Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Development and validation of the Trust in Government measure (TGM).BMC public health · 2023Article
- Trust as a key measure of quality and safety after the restriction of family contact in Canadian long-term care settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.Health policy (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2023Review
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo examine how the public assess trust in health care in England and Wales.
designPostal structured questionnaire in cross sectional survey.
settingRandom sample of people on the electoral register in England and Wales. SUBJECTS: People aged 18 and over.
main outcome measuresGeneral levels of trust and confidence in health care.
resultsThe response rate was 48% (n = 1187). The mean level of confidence (trust) in the healthcare system was 6.0 out of a score of 10. Levels of distrust appeared relatively high with at least 356 (30%) respondents reporting little or very little trust for 28 of 32 specific aspects of health care. The highest levels of distrust were found in relation to how the health service was run and financed, particularly waiting times and the implication of cost cutting for patients. Statistical analysis by univariable linear regression of the specific determinants of generic assessments of public trust (confidence) suggested that the key aspects were patient centred care and levels of professional expertise. Being covered by private health insurance was also a key determinant of levels of public trust.
conclusionPublic assessment of trust tends to address the views of care at the micro level. Policy makers concerned with the erosion of public trust need to target aspects associated with patient centred care and professional expertise.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.