Wes Streeting has admitted his NHS recovery plan is ‘hanging by a thread’ as resident doctors gear up for fresh strikes in a fortnight.
The Health Secretary accused the British Medical Association (BMA) of being ‘completely unreasonable’ after it announced the five-day walkout, which could see 200,000 appointments and operations cancelled.
Resident doctors, formerly called junior doctors, will start the latest wave of industrial action from 7am on July 25 amid demands for a 29 per cent pay rise.
Repeating he will not negotiate on pay, Mr Streeting urged doctors to ‘abandon their rush to strike’ and reopen talks to ‘improve resident doctors’ working lives instead’.
He said: ‘No trade union in British history has seen its members receive a 28.9 per cent pay rise [over three years] only to immediately respond with strikes, and the majority of BMA resident doctors didn’t vote to strike.
‘This is completely unreasonable. The NHS recovery is hanging by a thread, and the BMA are threatening to pull it.
‘The BMA should abandon their rush to strike and work with us to improve resident doctors working lives instead.’
The news of mass disruption to patients comes less than a week after Labour promised its 10 Year Health Plan ‘will make using the NHS as easy and convenient as doing your banking or shopping online.’
The Health Secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) accused the British Medical Association (BMA) of being ‘completely unreasonable’ after it announced the five-day walkout
Resident doctors, formerly called junior doctors, will start the latest wave of industrial action from 7am on July 25
There are now fears further strikes by doctors could lead nurses and consultants to follow suit.
But polling shows public support has waned with just one in five Britons now backing resident doctors going on strike.
A survey of 2,054 Britons by the Good Growth Foundation found that 56 per cent of the public oppose resident doctor strikes, with only 21 per cent supporting them.
In a letter to the BMA’s Resident Doctor Committee, Mr Streeting added: ‘The public won’t see why, after a 28.9 per cent pay rise, you would still walk out on strike, and neither do I.’
Since Labour took office the backlog in routine hospital treatments in England has fallen slightly from 7.6 million to 7.4 million, meaning this month’s strike could completely wipe out any progress.
On Tuesday the BMA secured a mandate for up to six months of disruption by resident doctors less than a year after the Health Secretary handed them a 22.3 per cent pay rise.
Nurses and consultant doctors are also being asked by their unions whether they want to walk out over pay, meaning the NHS could be facing a series of strikes this summer.
Hospital bosses have been forced to cancel 1.5 million appointments in 11 separate strikes by the medics since 2022.
A recent YouGov poll found 48 per cent of Britons oppose resident doctors going on strike, while 39 per cent support them taking action
Yesterday resident doctors announced they are ‘giving the Government two weeks to come to the table to negotiate’ or they will walk out from 7am on July 25 to 7am on July 30.
BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said: ‘We met Wes Streeting yesterday and made every attempt to avoid strike action by opening negotiations for pay restoration.
‘Unfortunately, the Government has stated that it will not negotiate on pay, wanting to focus on non-pay elements without suggesting what these might be. Without a credible offer to keep us on the path to restore our pay, we have no choice but to call strikes.’
Health bosses warned the strikes will cause tens of thousands of cancellations and lead to mass patient suffering.
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: ‘Announcing five days of strike action with just two weeks’ notice can only be harmful.
‘It’s totally unfair to patients whose care will be cancelled at such short notice just as the NHS was beginning to turn the tide on reducing waiting lists.’
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said the walkout will ‘lead to thousands of cancelled appointments and operations’ and that ‘ultimately it is patients who will bear the brunt of this decision’.
‘It is disappointing that talks to avert industrial action seem to have broken down so quickly. But it is hard to see how the Government could commit to increasing resident doctor pay further, particularly after they have received some of the biggest public sector pay rises over the last two years.’
