Exasperated NHS bosses have urged Wes Streeting and the British Medical Association to agree to independent mediation to end industrial action by resident doctors, who will begin their latest strike on Wednesday.
The health secretary and the doctors union have been told to embrace the idea in order to urgently break the deadlock in their increasingly bitter dispute that health service bosses say is making patients “collateral damage”.
An arbitrator could work to bridge the gap between them and resolve the 33-month-long dispute in England, the NHS Confederation, which represents hospital bosses, said.
Thousands of resident – formerly junior – doctors in England will strike from 7am on Wednesday for five days in their 14th strike action since 2023.
Hospitals have cancelled tens of thousands of tests and treatments to help them cope with the extra pressure they will be under until the strike ends at 7am next Monday 22 December.
Last-ditch talks on Tuesday between the health secretary and the BMA were “constructive” but failed to reach an agreement over pay and jobs.
Sir Jim Mackey, the head of NHS England, has condemned the strike as “cruel”, “calculated” and aimed at “causing mayhem” because it coincides with one of the health service’s toughest weeks of the year.
The confederation’s plea to both sides to let an independent figure try to find a resolution to the long-running dispute over pay and job reflects a growing fear in the NHS that it could “drag on and on and on” during next year unless there is a dramatic move to find a settlement.
Matthew Taylor, the confederation’s chief executive, said: “Clearly the current standoff between the government and the BMA’s resident doctors committee is detrimental to all parties, but the repercussions will be felt most severely by patients.
“Like our members, they will be extremely worried as this war of words continues to play out in public and as both sides become more entrenched in their positions. Some common ground is urgently needed, which independent mediation could support.
“This would facilitate a more constructive dialogue between the government and the BMA’s resident doctors committee and help to bring this dispute to an end, once and for all.
“As we have seen with previous waves of industrial action, a period of renegotiation is likely to happen eventually. But with waiting lists as high as they are, health leaders believe that time is now, in order to avoid more patients and staff from becoming collateral damage in this increasingly hostile dispute that has played out for far too long.
“It is crucial that both sides continue to do everything within their power to find some common ground as soon as possible. Otherwise, we could see industrial action becoming the defining feature of the NHS in 2026, which no one wants.”
Resident doctors are seeking a 26% pay rise over the next three years and a much greater expansion of training places in which early career doctors can pursue their chosen area of medicine than Streeting has offered so far, despite increasing the number from 1,000 to 4,000.
The health secretary has repeatedly called the 26% claim unaffordable, given the state of public finances.
The BMA on Tuesday night reinforced the likelihood of strikes continuing for months. Dr Jack Fletcher, the chair of the resident doctors committee, said ministers should realise “how badly they have handled this situation”.
“If the government keeps up the pattern of denial, harsh words and rushed half-measures, then we are going to be stuck in the cycle of strikes well into the new year,” he added.
Resident doctors’ existing legal mandate to strike expires on 6 January. But the BMA already plans to reballot the 55,000 such medics it represents of the 70,000 in the NHS in England.
Fletcher repeated the BMA’s demand that ministers “provide a clear route to responsibly raise pay over a number of years, and enough genuinely new jobs instead of recycled ones, then there need not be any more strikes for the remainder of this government”.
The Department of Health did not respond directly to the call for mediation. A spokesperson said: “The secretary of state and officials met with the BMA resident doctors committee today [Tuesday] for talks to try and avert this week’s strikes.
“Every effort was made to avert tomorrow’s strike action. While constructive, they were not able to reach an agreement. All of our focus will now be on working with the whole NHS team to minimise the disruption caused by the strikes.”
The BMA did not respond to a request to comment.
