Work with us or face Farage, Streeting tells BMA

Wes Streeting has urged the British Medical Association (BMA) to work with the Government or face Reform UK, which would “do away with the NHS”.

The Health Secretary told the BMA there “isn’t a more pro-NHS, more pro-doctor health secretary or government waiting in the wings”, adding: “It’s Nigel Farage and Reform UK.”

He said the party would oversee an insurance-based health system which would “check your pockets and your credit card before you can access care”.

It comes amid mounting tensions over a new online access system for GP surgeries, which the Government has said will “bring the NHS into the 21st century”.

“If we fail, there is every chance that Nigel Farage will come in and say ‘Labour has failed on the NHS, let’s do away with the NHS, let’s have an insurance-based system that will check your pockets and your credit card before you can access care’,” Mr Streeting told the PA news agency.

“That’s not a future I want to see, I don’t think it’s a future BMA members want to see. That is the choice.

“There isn’t a more pro-NHS, more pro-doctor health secretary or government waiting in the wings. It’s Nigel Farage and Reform UK. So work with a Labour government that wants to work with you.”

The Cabinet minister said the union’s argument over online access plans is “a real disservice to so many GPs across the country” who have already introduced online access for their patients.

He told PA: “The sad thing about where the BMA has found itself on online access to general practice – I think there’s a risk that the public will think GPs are against online access.

“And the tragedy is so many GPs are already leading the way – they understand the case for modernisation.

“They know it’s better for their patients, they also know it’s a much more efficient way to run their practices, better for staff too.

“Where there are practices that are struggling to get this up and running tomorrow, October 1, we’ll support them to get to where they need to be.

“But we’ve got to modernise.

“We’ve got to change with the times because people can book everything from restaurant bookings to hair appointments to cinema tickets online.

“Why should they be queuing outside at eight o’clock in the morning or struggling to get on the phone to see a GP? We have to change with the times and that’s what the Labour Government is going to do.”

He also told GB News: “It’s been a running theme of my first year as Health and Social Care Secretary that the BMA kick off from one week to the next, and I’d rather we work together as partners.

“We get the NHS back on its feet with a Labour Government and we’ll be proud of that achievement for years to come, or if the BMA hold us back and the forces of conservatism win, there’ll be a Reform government with Nigel Farage, who doesn’t believe in the NHS.”

The BMA has said GPs are considering a range of actions after voting to enter a dispute with the Government over the plans.

The union has said the plans could risk patient safety as staff try to find the most urgent cases, with fears that reviewing online requests will take up too much time.

Mr Streeting told Times Radio that arguments suggesting serious cases would be missed by overwhelmed GPs do not “bear any resemblance to reality”, adding: “And my frustration with the BMA position, and the position they’ve found themselves in, is that I think it actually does a real disservice to so many GPs across the country who are already with this agenda and very enthusiastic about it.”

He added: “I think the BMA has been guilty on a number of disputes of speaking for activists rather than being representative of their members.”

And Mr Streeting told BBC Breakfast: “What we can’t have are the sort of forces of conservatism trying to hold back modernisation, and people saying, ‘Oh, not just we can’t do this, but we won’t do this’.

“That’s not acceptable. And the real risk is, if we don’t change with the times, the NHS will become less relevant as well as less accessible to the public. And that’s not acceptable.”

From October 1, GP surgeries in England will be required to keep their online consultation tool open for the duration of their working hours for non-urgent appointment requests, medication queries and admin requests.

But the BMA says that safeguards have not been put in place and no additional staff have been brought in to manage what it predicts to be a “barrage of online requests”.

Many surgeries already have a system that allows patients to request consultations online, with staff reviewing these and booking appointments accordingly.

But the Department of Health and Social Care says there is a lack of consistency, with some surgeries choosing to switch the function off in busier periods.

Last week, the BMA announced that its GP members had voted to go into dispute over the change as it gave Mr Streeting a deadline to act before it considers a range of actions.