Five days of industrial action by resident doctors in England ended yesterday (30 July).
BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan, said: ‘Resident doctors want this to have been their last strike. We are asking Mr Streeting to leave the political rhetoric behind and put the future of the NHS first.'
They added: ‘We hope now will be a moment for the health secretary to reconsider his strategy. Yesterday saw the start of a new dispute with the Government over a lack of training posts for doctors.
‘There is now a great opportunity for them to seize: they can address both pay and unemployment and secure the future of the NHS workforce within the next few weeks. All it needs is the boldness to come to the table and start putting down concrete offers.
‘We're glad to hear Mr Streeting is open to new talks. Let's make them count.'
Meanwhile, in a letter to the co-chairs of the BMA Resident Doctors Committee, Streeting wrote: ‘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.'
He added: ‘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.'
He concluded: ‘I was critical of my predecessors when they closed the door to the Junior Doctors Committee. My door remains open to the hope that we can still build the partnership with resident doctors I aspired to when I came in a year ago and, in that spirit, I am happy to meet with you early next week.'
