Striking resident doctors will lose if they go to war with the Government, Wes Streeting has said.
The Health Secretary issued the warning after writing to leaders at the British Medical Association (BMA), saying he is willing to meet and resume talks in their ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions.
Writing for The Guardian newspaper, Mr Streeting said the BMA had sent him a letter asking that he return to the negotiating table after five days of strike action by resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors.
“I’ve responded, with the irony of their letter being that I never left the table,” he said.
Mr Streeting added: “We are back to where we were two weeks ago, when I sat down in good faith and offered to work intensively with them over a few weeks to negotiate a package of measures that would make a real difference in meeting the costs of doctors’ training, the costs associated with being a doctor and the lack of promotion opportunities.
“The only difference between now and a fortnight ago is the damage that the BMA has done to the NHS through its reckless strike action.”
In his opinion piece, the Health Secretary asked the BMA to drop what he called its “unnecessary and unreasonable rush to strike action”, and also recognise that the Government has a responsibility to all health service staff.
Kemi Badenoch vs resident doctor
“We can’t fix everything for everyone everywhere all at once,” he added.
Mr Streeting finished his op-ed by warning: “It should be clear to the BMA by now that it will lose a war with this Government.
“It’s not too late for us both to win the peace.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the Cabinet minister said in a letter to the BMA that following previous talks, he had outlined a package that “could bring an end to this dispute”.
In a letter addressed to BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan, Mr Streeting acknowledged a second dispute raised by the BMA about a lack of training places for doctors, but said this could have been “avoided”.
He reiterated that the Government “cannot move on pay”, but is “prepared to negotiate on areas related to your conditions at work, career progression and tangible measures which would put money in your members’ pockets”.
In a statement, the co-chairs of the committee said: “Resident doctors want this to have been their last strike.
“We are asking Mr Streeting to leave the political rhetoric behind and put the future of the NHS first.
“He could have prevented strike action if he had made a credible offer last week, instead of what we got: the offer of more talks.
“Now is the time to get serious.
“We’re glad to hear Mr Streeting is open to new talks. Let’s make them count.”
Details on the number of appointments, procedures and operations postponed as a result are expected to be published later this week.
It is expected that fewer patients were affected compared with previous strikes after hospitals were ordered to press ahead with as much pre-planned care as possible during the walkout across England, which ended at 7am on Wednesday.
In previous walkouts, the majority of non-urgent care was postponed.
Strikes across various NHS staff groups between 2022 and 2024 led to 1.5 million cancellations.
And hospital leaders said that fewer resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, took to picket lines in the latest walkout compared with those which took place previously.
NHS officials have said cancelled bookings would be rescheduled within two weeks, but warned of knock-on impacts for other patients.
