NHS bosses have accused resident doctors of seeking to cause “maximum harm” to patients by striking for six days next month over pay and jobs.
Wes Streeting has given resident – formerly junior – doctors in England until 2 April to reconsider their rejection on Wednesday of his “generous” offer to end the dispute. It would have given them £700m in extra pay over the next three years.
The British Medical Association’s decision to withdraw from talks with the government and NHS chiefs aimed at settling the long-running dispute has sparked a war of words.
Glen Burley, NHS England’s financial reset and accountability director, said during NHS England’s board meeting on Thursday that the BMA’s decision was “really disappointing for patients. I mean, this is a point where we know we’ll be at a busy stage again. So it feels like it’s trying to push maximum harm and we will try and make sure that doesn’t happen.”
He added that he was “really shocked” that the BMA’s resident doctors committee opted against putting Streeting’s offer to all members, leaving it to them to decide whether or not to accept it.
Jim Mackey, NHS England’s chief executive, said the BMA’s rejection and six-day strike from 7 April means that the dispute – which began in March 2023 – would continue for the forseeable future.
Mackey said that after intensive negotiations with the BMA since early January, “we felt very, very, very close that we had a deal that could work for all parties. It’s incredibly disappointing that it fell to bits at the last minute.
“But we are where we are, so we are going to have to get ourselves organised about navigating what’s probably a long period now of dispute.” The NHS is bracing itself for industrial action equivalent to a “long distance” run, he added.
On Wednesday, the BMA claimed talks “had been making good progress” until two weeks ago “when the government began to shift the goalposts”, but did not explain what had changed.
As the Guardian reported at the time, ministers had offered to hand resident doctors £700m in additional income between 2026 and 2029. They would have gained that by moving up through pay scales quicker, as a way of meeting their longstanding demand for ”full pay restoration” through a 26% salary uplift.
However, the BMA insisted that medics should get the money in one year – 2026-27 – and, when the government ruled that out, walked away from the negotiations.
In the Commons on Thursday, Streeting told the BMA that it had a week to look again at his offer – or risk him withdrawing it altogether, including a plan to expand specialist medical training places from 1,000 to 4,500, to meet another key BMA demand.
Dr Jack Fletcher, the RDC’s chair, said it was “misleading” of Streeting to claim that resident doctors had seen their pay rise by 35% over the last four years – that was “wildly overstating the case” – because inflation over that period had eroded the value of the rise.
