Wes Streeting has ordered his officials to turn their focus to keeping patients safe during doctors strikes after union peace talks broke down.
The health secretary has told the British Medical Association that ‘all areas of engagement’ with its leaders will now ‘cease’ so mandarins can ‘prioritise minimising the impact of the strike action’.
He said it is clear they have ‘chosen a path of full dispute’, showing ‘scant regard for patients’ and and accused them of failing to act in ‘good faith’.
Up to 50,000 resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – will walkout for five days from 7am on Friday in pursuit of a 29 per cent pay rise.
They have already received above inflation pay rises for the past three years, worth an extra 28.9 per cent in total, following previous strikes.
The BMA and Department of Health and Social Care held talks over the weekend with the aim of negotiating a settlement.
But the BMA’s resident doctors committee rejected the proposal on Tuesday and said it would plough ahead with industrial action.
Mr Streeting responded to the leaders of the RDC today criticising them for turning their back on a deal in favour of a ‘reckless and irresponsible’ walkout.
Health secretary Wes Streeting
In a letter, seen by the Daily Mail, he wrote: ‘The decision taken by your committee to commence strike action this week is reckless and irresponsible.
‘Strike action should always be a last resort.
‘Instead, it seems to be the BMA RDC’s weapon of choice, with scant regard for patients or other NHS staff who will be left picking up the pieces of your actions.’
He said he had been clear he could not offer higher pay rises but was willing to negotiate on other areas that would improve their finances and working conditions.
‘There have been multiple discussions in which it is now clear that you have not engaged in the same good faith,’ he added.
‘Strike action costs the NHS in so many ways, and there are significant implications not only to patients but on the improvements that this government can deliver to the NHS for everyone.
‘With strikes going ahead, I cannot in good conscience let patients, or other NHS staff pay the price for your decision.
‘You have clearly chosen a path of full dispute, and this has consequences for the whole of the NHS system.
Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan, co-chairs of the BMA Resident Doctor Committee
‘I will therefore be asking my department to prioritise minimising the impact of the strike action and all areas of engagement with the BMA RDC will, by virtue of your decision, now cease.’
Mr Streeting said he came into office with a ‘genuine desire’ to work with the resident doctors to improve their lives but they have ‘squandered that opportunity and exhausted our good will’.
He finished by urging them to reconsider their position and said resident doctors on the frontline would have a ‘better path to a brighter future’ if they had ‘better leadership’.
Membership groups representing NHS managers have warned the strikes will cause widespread disruption and put patients at risk of harm.
Opinion polls show the public is opposed to the industrial action, which could see consultant members of the BMA cashing in by charging £6,000 to cover on-call rotas over the weekend.
The union says the pay of resident doctors has been cut in real terms since 2008 and it wants to achieve full pay restoration.
