Rediscovering the civic and achieving better outcomes in public policy
Policy
The state/citizen relation is in flux. For many public services there appears to be an unending spiral of public expectations about the quality of what they receive no matter what level of resources are provided. An Ipsos MORI survey conducted in August 2006 asked people what they thought a reasonable wait was for a GP's appointment, if they had a bad chest infection and found that 65 per cent of people expected to be seen in one day or less.
The Government's target is 48 hours. Asked how long it should take to be seen in A&E if they thought they had a broken wrist 66 per cent of people said they would expect to be seen in two hours or less. Government's average target is 4 hours. And for an outpatient appointment for a non- serious back problem some 45 per cent per cent of people would expect to be seen in two weeks or less.
The current average wait is just over 6 weeks and the Government target is that no one will wait more than 13 weeks. Alongside spiralling expectations citizens are hearing that the state is no longer simply there to provide. Rather it has expectations of you help by eating more healthily, by being a better parent, by taking exercise regularly and by saving for your retirement.
The state has the character of both a generous Aunt and a nagging Nanny. Again citizens are left in a position where they are far from sure which of the two faces of the state they are going to experience at any given exchange. Ambiguity and contradiction are inherent to our experience of the state. Policy challenges in the future involve the search for new types of civic behaviour. Can citizens both becoming more demanding and more responsible at the same time?
