In his letter, Streeting told the BMA:
The choice is clear. You can continue to pursue unnecessary strike action, which will cause disruption to patients, harm the NHS’s recovery and mean that at least some parts of this offer become unaffordable.
Or you can put an end to this damaging period of industrial action and work in partnership with the government to both deliver real change and improvements.
The health secretary also maintains that he won’t negotiate on pay. He reasoned that, in the last three years, resident doctors have received pay rises of nearly 30%. However, as the BMA has repeatedly pointed out, this still puts residents’ pay far behind inflation.
As such, the chairman of the BMA’s resident doctors committee (RDC) – Dr Jack Fletcher – told Streeting that the government:
can call off strikes for years if they’re willing to offer a multi-year pay deal that restores pay over time.
Sadly, even after promising a journey to fair pay, Mr Streeting is still unwilling to move.
Senior docs stepping in
Now, with resident doctors walking out next week, hospitals are facing significant disruption. After today’s news, the NHS will be moving back and rescheduling appointments which would fall on the strike days.
Residents are striking from routine and emergency care. Given that these doctors comprise almost half of the NHS’ medical workforce, senior doctors will be forced to step in and fill the gap.
Time and again, Streeting has maligned NHS workers and attempted to frame doctors as “wreckers”. Now, as resident doctors are poised to walk out, he’ll be faced with a simple fact – you can’t bully people into working when they’re already past breaking point.
Featured image via the Canary
