Resident doctors said they would begin negotiations with Wes Streeting with the “spirit of action” to avoid further strikes in the new year as their five-day strike ended on Monday morning.
The British Medical Association called on the health secretary to come to the negotiating table with a similarly “constructive” approach, saying the tone of the 11th-hour talks before they were stopped was encouraging but too late to avoid it. strike in England.
Streeting also stated his determination to return to negotiations, saying he “doesn't want to see another day of strike action in National Health Service in 2026″ and that he will “do everything possible to make this a reality.”
“My door remains open, as it always has, and I am committed to resuming negotiations with the BMA in the new year to end these destructive cycles of failure,” he said.
Streeting and Keir Starmer have taken a hard line on the strike, along with the Prime Minister. saying it's “incredible” that this must be done as the flu-stricken NHS faces its worst crisis since Covid.
Andrea Egan, who will take over as Unison's new general secretary next year, said it was unacceptable for Streeting to say the strike was “morally reprehensible”. The Health Minister also accused the BMA of acting as a cartel.
However, since the end of the five-day strike, Streeting and the BMA appear to have taken a more conciliatory tone.
Negotiations between the government and the BMA have broken down repeatedly in recent months, with Streeting unwilling to restart pay talks and doctors demanding that wages be “restored” to 2008 levels in real terms.
Instead, Streeting proposed a deal to create more training places to end the crisis in which qualified doctors cannot find work after graduation. However, the proposal was rejected by BMA resident doctors, who voted to continue the strike from Wednesday last week until 7am on Monday.
Calling for “less big talk and more deals” in 2026, Jack Fletcher, chairman of the doctors' standing committee, said: “What we need is a proper solution to this jobs crisis and a credible path to restoring the lost value of the profession. This must mean creating truly new jobs, and this could include a responsible, multi-year approach to restoring doctors' pay.”
“These are solutions that mean we can build our future workforce to end the current crisis, and solutions that are very much within the power of government.”
He added: “Doctors are frustrated by the past year. There were many opportunities to avoid strikes, but too often the government did too little, too late.”
“However, the tone of the conversations we had in the 11th hour leading up to these strikes gave us optimism that the government is finally understanding the frustrations of resident doctors in England. We enter the new year with a renewed spirit of determination and we hope Mr Streeting will do the same.”
Earlier, the Health Secretary said the NHS had managed the strike despite it coinciding with the flu season, but he was concerned about the subsequent recovery period.
On Monday morning, Streeting said the “double whammy of strikes and flu this December poses the most serious threat to the NHS” since the election.
“The health service has only been able to cope with the situation thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the dedicated staff who work within it, and the hardest work awaits us in the coming weeks as the NHS faces its busiest weeks of the year,” he said.
“To everyone who has played a role in keeping NHS services running during this exceptionally difficult month, thank you for the real difference you have made.”
