Wes Streeting has branded resident doctor strikes as “deeply disappointing” in a letter to their union.
The Health Secretary called the decision taken by the British Medical Association’s (BMA) Resident Doctors Committee to proceed with strike action over the past five days as “deeply disappointing and entirely unnecessary given the seemingly promising discussions we had to explore areas where we could make substantive improvements to doctors’ working lives.”
Mr Streeting said: “The consequences of your strike action have been a detrimental impact on patients, your members, your colleagues and the NHS, which might have been worse were it not for the considerable efforts of NHS leaders and front-line staff who stepped up.
“Your action has also been self-defeating, because you have squandered the considerable goodwill you had with me and this government. I cannot in good conscience let patients, or other NHS staff, pay the price for the costs of your decision.”
Mr Streeting also accused resident doctors in England of walking away from the negotiating table before staging five days of strikes.
In a letter to the co-chairs of the British Medical Association’s resident doctors committee, Mr Streeting said: “Thank you for your letter of 29 July inviting me to get back to the negotiation table, which is ironic because I never left. I am ready to continue the conversation from where you left it.
“As I made clear last week, the decision taken by your committee to proceed with strike action over the past five days was deeply disappointing and entirely unnecessary given the seemingly promising discussions we had to explore areas where we could make substantive improvements to doctors’ working lives.
“My letter to your committee, drafted following extensive engagement with you both, outlined a path to agreeing a package that could bring an end to this dispute.
“Had you and your committee not rushed to strike, we would be in the second of the three weeks I asked for to work intensively together to improve the working lives of your members.
“I note you have now opened a second dispute on jobs, a dispute that could have been avoided if you were willing to discuss the very measures to expand training places that I was willing to make rapid progress on.
“I made clear my willingness to go further than the 1,000 new training posts we have already committed to and to prioritise UK medical graduates.”
He ended the letter by insisting he could “still build the the partnership with resident doctors I aspired” when he entered Government last year.
The Cabinet Minister added: “In that spirit, I am happy to meet with you early next week.”
