Wes Streeting warns the NHS is close to collapse – ‘one minute to midnight’ | Politics | News

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned that the NHS is now ‘one minute to midnight’ and is facing its worst week since the Covid outbreak.

Speaking this morning, Mr Streeting reiterated his condemnation of the British Medical Association union, which plans to take its members on strike next week. While the government has made a series of commitments on vacancies for junior doctors, prioritizing British-educated students over immigrants, the BMA is still pushing for a massive 26% pay rise.

Mr Streeting said the current extreme flu crisis colliding with strikes next week meant he could no longer guarantee patient safety in the NHS in the coming days.

Speaking on LBC this morning, he warned ominously that he could no longer guarantee that patients would not die next week because of the crisis.

The senior cabinet minister fumed: “I can only assume… [the BMA] “I know this week will be very painful for the NHS.”

“Of course it is very painful for me, but given the pressure on other NHS staff and the risk this poses to patients, I do not understand why the BMA is not willing to compromise.”

Asked whether the collapse of the NHS happened at midnight, how close to midnight the health service was now, Mr Streeting said the NHS was “active” at “one minute to midnight”.

“What I’m really afraid of is that even if I put more money into this right now so we can get through next week’s strikes, there are only a limited number of doctors and staff, only a limited number of nursing home beds and community-based care.

“So if you’re having strikes and you’re getting the flu and you’re having all these challenges in the hallways and your demand is going up instead of down, I don’t think there’s a lever I can pull, I don’t think there’s an amount of money I can spend that means I can join your program and guarantee patient safety next week.

“This is a very scary situation, not only for me, but also for the doctors and NHS staff who are facing this challenge, because they are the ones who will be on the front lines.”

Responding to an objection from a junior doctor who said Labour’s pay rise last year was not enough, Mr Streeting wanted to know who else in the public sector had benefited from such a big pay rise.

He asked: “You are right that the 28.9% pay rise covers a three-year period, but to be fair there are very few people in and outside the public sector who have experienced a 28.9% rise in the last few years.

“I now know that this is not as far as you and the BMA would like me to go – this is as far as I think the country can afford at the moment.

“And I ask you, whether it’s a job or a job, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

He added that he could not understand why the union launched two rounds of strike action following the 28.9% wage increase.

“At this stage, a week before Christmas, I cannot understand why you and your colleagues could still vote for strike action when this job offer is on the table, when you know better than I do the difficulties within which you work in the NHS.

“If what you really want to do is kick me, I don’t understand why your union hasn’t reached a reasonable compromise to at least postpone strike action until January.

“But for God’s sake, to vote against this proposal at this stage, to vote to go on strike, is self-defeating for doctors, puts untold pressure on other NHS staff who will be working in these conditions, and – I do not make this point casually or lightly – risks serious harm to patients. Honestly, I cannot sit here and look you in the eye and tell you that no patient will be harmed or fatally harmed.”

The senior Labor Secretary has pushed back on some of the language recently used to describe the union, such as “moaning minions” and “juvenile delinquents”.

He insisted the language was directed only at the union’s leadership, not the membership, but said he would step back from using ad hominem attacks again to try to reset his relationship.

Assistant doctors will go on strike between 17-22 December if they do not cancel their strike in the coming hours.