Speaking to the Health and Social Care Committee this afternoon, Streeting said the decision by resident doctors to walk out for five days from 25 July was ‘unreasonable and unnecessary', as well as ‘self-defeating'.

Streeting said it would be a ‘catastrophic mistake' to throw away progress, ‘at a time when the NHS is moving in the right direction, when waiting lists are falling, GP numbers are going up and people are feeling a sense of cautious optimism about the NHS future'.

The health secretary said it was ‘shockingly irresponsible' that the BMA appeared to be telling its members not to inform their trusts or their employers if they were going out on strike.

NHSE chief executive Sir Jim Mackey said: ‘I really hope that this is avoidable, but we also can't allow this to play out in a way that it did last time, with a huge impact on people's lives and colleagues working in the service, through cancelation and a disruption of clinical pathways that is very hard to quantify the impact on.'

Streeting added: ‘It's not too late, even at this late stage, for us to get back on the path I wanted us to be on, of working together, of driving real improvements for resident doctors and for patients, but it is going to require a different mindset.'