Streeting blasts striking doctors for ‘rejecting deal but still wanting benefits’
Wes Streeting has attacked junior doctors’ “absurd” demands threatening strikes, accusing them of rejecting the government’s deal “while we’re still waiting for the benefits”.
Minister of Health writes IndependentHe says the British Medical Association, which represents junior doctors in the ongoing dispute over pay, is not serious about reaching an agreement.
He accused junior doctors (formerly junior) of failing to “agree among themselves on an alternative” going forward, and said that when ministers asked the BMA to propose a way to reach an agreement that crossed the line, instead “the offer on the table was once again rejected”.
“The BMA seems to think that while they are taking their members out on strike, they should also take advantage of the agreement,” he said.
The NHS is preparing for a six-day strike by tens of thousands of junior doctors in England from 7am on Tuesday, just after the Easter weekend; This will lead to thousands of appointments and surgeries being cancelled.
The government withdrew its offer for 1,000 additional training places after talks designed to stop the strike failed, saying it no longer considered them “financially or operationally” feasible as the NHS would have to deal with the £250 million cost of industrial action.
Writing about the latest breakdown in negotiations, the health minister said there had “reached a point in any dispute where the question is no longer what more can be offered but whether the other side is serious about reaching an agreement”.
He added: “Leaving aside the absurdity of this position, there is a stark practical reality that cannot be wished away: some elements of this agreement are time-sensitive and if we are covering the costs of strikes rather than putting money into doctors’ pockets and creating more training places, the agreement itself becomes unaffordable.”
“The idea that you can reject a deal while waiting for the benefits to be realized is simply not credible,” he says.
He warned the BMA that it must now “prioritise negotiations with nurses and the wider NHS workforce” and also seek services through strikes.
Mr Streeting said no one should underestimate the pressure doctors were under, but “nor can we ignore the consequences of repeated strikes on a health service that is already under huge pressure”.
He warned that the NHS would try to reduce disruption, “but we cannot eliminate it”, adding that it would lead to appointments being cancelled, care being delayed and additional burden on other healthcare staff.
Strikes have been described as not only “bad for doctors” but also “bad for patients”.
This marks the 15th strike by junior doctors since March 2023, with similar action taking place in December as doctors demanded their salaries be restored to 2008 levels, with a 26 per cent increase.
On Thursday, Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the British Medical Association’s resident doctors committee, said the withdrawal of training places was “extremely disappointing”.
“It’s really disheartening to be at this point after constructive talks until the government moved the goalposts a few weeks ago,” he said.
“It is absolutely wrong for the development of future doctors to be used as a pawn in this way.”
He said his organization would be happy to meet Mr Streeting over the Easter weekend in a bid to prevent strikes, but only if there was “an improvement” in the agreement with medics.
When asked why the BMA had not presented the government’s proposal to its members, Dr. Fletcher said the offer did not meet the threshold to be considered and the organization could not continue making offers to members “over and over again.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said the proposal would improve career progression and working lives and mean junior doctors would be 35.2 per cent better off on average than they were four years ago.
Junior doctors are qualified doctors in their first year of training. Their wages have increased by almost 30 percent in the last few years; This includes a 22.3 per cent increase since Labor came to power in the summer of 2024. The BMA has been approached for comment.
