The Health Secretary has said that “everyone loses” if planned strikes by resident doctors in England go ahead.
Wes Streeting confirmed that resident doctors have agreed to hold “talks to avert strike action” and that he hopes discussions will “lead to a situation where everyone wins”.
But he said that the Government has been “clear” that it will not open negotiations about this year’s pay.
The British Medical Association (BMA) announced last week that resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – in England would walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on July 25 amid an ongoing pay dispute with the Government.
“I’m really pleased that the BMA have responded to my offer to sit down and talk to try and avert these strikes,” Mr Streeting told Sky News.
“I’m very clear we can’t go further on pay – we’ve already given them a 28.9% pay increase, they had the largest pay award (of) the entire public sector this year.
“So offering more would be unaffordable, but also unfair to other NHS staff and other public sector workers.”
He said: “We’ve been really clear that what we can’t do is reopen this year’s pay award.
“I think it’s unreasonable to press for more at this stage, and that’s why these strikes are unnecessary.
“What we can do is look to improve the conditions that resident doctors are working under, to look at their longer term career progression and also to look to the future more generally, that’s the conversation that we want to have.
“I hope it will lead to everyone being able to walk away with real progress, and the situation where everyone wins. If these strikes go ahead, that’s a scenario in which everyone loses.
Following yesterday’s strike ballot result, we met with @wesstreeting
— Resident Doctors (@BMAResidents) July 9, 2025
It’s clear: the Government is refusing to negotiate on pay.
We are now preparing for a full 5 day walk-out, beginning on Friday 25 July.
Our door will always be open to constructive talks.#PayRestoration pic.twitter.com/6nJXTFdooP
“And I think that’s why the majority of resident doctors didn’t support this strike action.”
He added: “There’s still lots of things we can do and want to do together to improve the conditions that resident doctors are working under, to improve their career progression – which would be the best pay rise possible, being promoted to become the consultants and the GPs of the future.
“We will look at those issues with them. So I’m pleased they’ve responded to the offer of talks to avert strike action.
“I hope this can lead to a situation where everyone wins.
“If strikes go ahead, everyone loses – doctors lose; the NHS loses; patients lose and the public lose.”
The union has said that resident doctors need a pay uplift of 29.2% to reverse “pay erosion” since 2008/09.
In September, BMA 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% uplift plus £750 “on a consolidated basis” – working out as an average pay rise of 5.4%.
It comes as nursing leaders said they felt let down by Mr Streeting but are “way off” conversations about potential strike action.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are currently being consulted on whether they believe their pay award of 3.6% is enough.
Patricia Marquis, executive director of the RCN in England, told Times Radio that strikes would be a “last resort”, adding: “We’re a way off those conversations.”
Asked whether they feel let down by Mr Streeting, she added: “I think, yes, I think we probably do at this stage.
“I think we have given enough time for consideration to be given to what can be done.
“And whilst I think we acknowledge and our members would acknowledge that there is no quick fix and there is no magic wand, we would have expected to see more progress than we’ve seen to date.”
Mr Streeting told the PA news agency: “More generally, this is a Government that is committed to working with staff, not just in the NHS but more broadly, to improve our public services and also to improve their pay and conditions at work.
“And right across the public sector, we’ve seen real terms pay increases.
“We’ve got the Employment Rights Bill going through Parliament, which will tackle some of the exploitation of people at work, and in the NHS, we are making progress – waiting lists are falling – we couldn’t do this without staff.
“So I hope that even at this late stage that the BMA will work with us to find a way through to avert strike action, because it’s not in the interests of staff or patients for these strikes to go ahead.”
The BMA said that it will not comment further ahead of the meeting with Mr Streeting.
