Medics have expressed surprise at a survey published in The Sun that says 93% of junior doctors polled would support privatisation of the NHS if it meant they would see an increase in their pay.
This year has seen junior doctors strike on a number of occasions for the first time in a generation. Doctors have said their objection to the changes to their working terms and conditions was related to patient safety and fairness to medical staff, while the government has said the dispute was more about pay.
The Sun story cited an email survey by an anonymous medic from Hull. According to the newspaper, the medic polled 9,500 respondents, a sample that would represent around one-fifth of the 54,000-strong junior doctor workforce. The article did not include the actual wording of the question used in the survey.
Ben Page, the chief executive of independent polling company Ipsos Mori, said he found the results surprising.
"The findings seem very different from other research on doctors' attitudes to the government's proposed contract, and a 93% result is unusual in any survey of this type," Page told BuzzFeed News.
A spokesperson for The Sun could not confirm to BuzzFeed News whether the data would be published in full at any point, but did tell us the question asked in the survey, to which 93% of respondents reportedly answered yes, was: "Do you support privatisation of the NHS if this resulted in significantly increased remuneration for doctors?"
The spokesperson added: "This survey was provided by a reputable source and we fully stand by our reporting."
Junior doctors BuzzFeed News spoke to, many of whom consider themselves active members of the junior doctors campaigning community, said they had not seen the survey and were unaware of any colleagues who had.
"For it to have got 10,000 junior doctor responses I find it hard to believe I wouldn't have seen it advertised," Dr Dagan Lonsdale said.
"Without any technical details on how the sample of doctors was drawn, response rates, how 'the medic from Hull' undertook the survey, a copy of the questionnaire etc, it is very hard to take these results seriously at all, or verify them as not fabricated."
Another told BuzzFeed News: "I haven't seen it but I would be very, very surprised by that!"
Doctors said they were keen for The Sun to publish full details of how the data was collected and verified to understand how researchers reached the 93% statistic.
"As with all research it would need to demonstrate robust methodology to pass scrutiny!" Dr Nadia Massood told BuzzFeed News.
Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, a campaign that looks to protect public services such as the NHS, was sceptical about the survey results.
Hobbs questioned why the newspaper had not published the full survey and had kept its source anonymous. "I'd like to see The Sun's data and its methodology," she said.
"Doctors have put themselves on the line to defend our precious, public NHS from politically motivated government funding cuts and privatisation – while being vilified by the likes of The Sun.
"Doctors are on the front line of the battle to save our NHS."
The doctors' union, the British Medical Association, declined to comment on the research as it had played no part in carrying it out, while a spokesperson for the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges told BuzzFeed News it "cannot and would not comment on an unsourced and apparently unverifiable story".