Wes Streeting issues update on crucial talks to avoid doctor strikes

Health Secretary Wes Streetinghas held "constructive" talks with the British Medical Association (BMA) in an attempt to avert strike action. The Government insisted it "cannot move" on pay following a significant pay rise for some doctors last year.

Mr Streeting said: "We had a constructive conversation with the BMA and we'll be having further conversations in the coming days to try to avert strike action. "While we cannot move on pay after a 28.9% pay rise, we are working on areas where we can improve working lives for resident doctors.

"Strikes have a serious cost for patients, so I am appealing to the BMA to call them off and instead work together to improve their members' working conditions and continue rebuilding the NHS."

But the BMA's representatives warned there is a "very small window" over the coming days to avert resident doctors' strikes after talks with the Government ended without a deal.

The BMA's co-chair of the Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) issued the warning following talks with Mr Streeting on Thursday.

The RDC did not provide the date of its next meeting with the Health Secretary when asked by reporters.

Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, RDC co-chair, said: "We have a very small window of opportunity over the next few days to avert strike action.
"Talks today have been constructive, they're a first step, it was a very high-level discussion, we're looking forward to more discussions to hopefully avert strike action - no-one wants strikes, patients don't want strikes, we don't want strikes and the Government doesn't want strikes.

"So hopefully the next few days will be very, very useful."

Asked what the deadline is to avoid strike action, Dr Nieuwoudt said: "Not long, so time is not our friend at the moment, we have precious, precious few days in order to make sufficient progress in order to avert strike action - hopefully we can meet at a pace that is sufficient and reasonable."

A five-day walkout is scheduled to start next week and could cause significant upheaval to the NHS in England. The Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) - part of the British Medical Association (BMA) - met the Health Secretary today.

Discussions could be tense after Mr Streeting told MPs on Monday that he did not see a "reasonable trade union partner" in the RDC "at this time".

In a joint statement issued at the weekend, RDC co-chairs Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan said they were hoping to "find a solution that our members will find acceptable and that can prevent any strike action having to take place".

On Tuesday, NHS leaders said there was no extra money to cover industrial action by resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors.

The last bout of strikes, which also included walkouts by other health workers, came at an estimated cost of £1.5 billion to the NHS in England.

Some 1.5 million appointments, procedures and operations were postponed as a result of the stoppages.

On Thursday, The Times reported that it had seen an audit which found that five patients died as a result of disruption linked to strikes by junior doctors in 2023 and 2024.

One prevention of future death report detailed how 71-year-old Daphne Austin, who had a kidney injury, died after getting "no medical input" on one of the strike days because the consultant who was covering was in charge of 25 patients.

Another states that 60-year-old John Doyle died of "natural causes against a background of missed opportunities to diagnose and treat cytomegalovirus infection, together with the impact of the resident (formerly junior) doctors' strike on the provision of consistent patient care".

The strikes ended last September when resident doctor members voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years.

The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4% increase plus £750 "on a consolidated basis", working out as an average rise of 5.4%.

Government officials said these two increases equate to a 28.9% pay rise.

But the BMA said resident doctors need 29.2% to reverse "pay erosion" since 2008/09.

Earlier this month, the union announced that resident doctors in England would strike for five days from 7am on July 25.