Resident doctors agree ‘window for negotiations’ with Streeting

Resident doctors in England have agreed a “window for negotiations” with Wes Streeting, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.

Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan, co-chairs of the union’s resident doctors committee, met with the Health Secretary on Tuesday.

It follows a five-day strike by the medics in their dispute with the Government over pay.

A joint statement from Dr Nieuwoudt and Dr Ryan said: “We met yesterday with Mr Streeting to once again reiterate what is needed to bring this dispute to an end.

“We were very clear about the determination of resident doctors to return to a fair level of pay.

“Our conversation was informative and we feel that we have achieved a greater mutual understanding than in previous talks.

“We have agreed a window for negotiations, which we hope the Government will use wisely.”

The statement added that medics are working to “ensure strike action does not need to be repeated”.

“We want to work with the Department for Health and Social Care to deliver on non-pay items it previously agreed to, and to forge mutual respect following years when the previous incumbents seemingly cared little for doctors’ pay or wellbeing,” it said.

“We are clear, though, that going forward there has to be movement on pay.

“We also reminded Mr Streeting of the urgent need to provide enough jobs for doctors and bring an end to the current situation where thousands of resident doctors apply for far too few roles, leaving many unable to progress their careers and go on to be our future consultants, GPs and other specialist doctors.

“We are working to ensure strike action does not need to be repeated and will give time to explore solutions. However, doctors and patients both deserve a resolution sooner rather than later.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State had a constructive conversation with the BMA resident doctors co-chairs yesterday and agreed to continue engagement through the summer with the aim of preventing further disruption to the NHS and patients.

“We have been clear that, following a 28.9% pay rise for resident doctors, we cannot go further on pay this year, but there is shared ambition to explore and address some of the unique additional costs that resident doctors incur through their training and work.”

It comes after early analysis by NHS England claimed less than a third of resident doctors joined strike action last week.

The number of medics that took part in the walkout was down by 7.5% (1,243) on the previous round of industrial action in July last year.

However, the BMA rejected this, saying complex work schedules and doctors taking leave make this information “almost impossible to know”.

Shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew said: “Wes Streeting must urgently face down union pressure and strike threats to bring this dispute to an end – otherwise it will be patients paying the price.

“Only the Conservatives have a clear plan to stand up to union overreach by banning doctor strikes and guaranteeing minimum service levels across our health service.”