Wes Streeting has made an improved offer to end the long-running dispute with resident doctors before their strike next week that threatens to bring chaos to the NHS as it battles a flu surge.
The health secretary has pledged to double the number of extra places that early career doctors in England can apply for in order to train in the area of medicine they have chosen to specialise in.
He hopes that his “substantial offer” to the British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors’ union, will “end resident doctors strikes once and for all”.
It does not include more pay for this year or address resident doctors’ demand for a 26% salary rise over the next few years, on top of the 28.9% increase they have had since 2023.
In a sign that his move may prove enough to persuade the BMA to call off next week’s strike, the union agreed to put the offer to resident – formerly junior – doctors in a survey. It promised it would cancel the five-day stoppage due to start on 17 December if that was what those taking part wanted.
The strike has caused huge alarm across an NHS that is struggling to deal with a record number of people for the time of year in a hospital bed with flu – 1,700 – and a growing number of hospitals having to declare a “critical incident” because they cannot cope.
Sir Jim Mackey, the chief executive of NHS England, last week criticised next week’s industrial action as “cruel and calculated to cause mayhem at a time when the service is pulling out all the stops” in the run-up to Christmas when it comes under intense pressure.
Streeting has doubled from 2,000 to 4,000 the number of specialist training places he is pledging that the NHS in England will create to try to unblock a “bottleneck” that has developed in recent years and led to thousands of doctors being unable to progress their careers. He will table emergency legislation in January to make the change.
The government’s 10-year health plan proposed only an extra 1,000 training places a year but Streeting doubled that to 2,000 last month in an offer that the BMA rejected out of hand.
Competition among doctors to secure a training place has intensified sharply in the last few years as up to 30,000 doctors a year chase as few as 10,000 places.
The BMA said Streeting’s much improved offer proved that striking does help doctors achieve their goals.
“This offer is the result of thousands of resident doctors showing that they are prepared to stand up for their profession and their future. It should not have taken strike action but make no mistake: it was strike action that got us this far,” said Jack Fletcher, the chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee.
Streeting accompanied his offer with renewed criticism of next week’s planned five-day strike. “I cannot understand the wilful casualness with which the BMA’s leadership have chosen to inflict this pain on patients, other staff and the NHS itself. It is one of the most shameful episodes in the long history of the BMA,” he said.
He appealed to resident medics to vote for a deal that he said would mean “more jobs, better career opportunities [and] more money in their pockets … [and] end the strikes”.
Resident doctors have gone on strike 13 times since March 2023, including last month. They have withdrawn their labour for a total of 49 days. The BMA will announce the result of the survey on Monday 15 December.
Daniel Elkeles, the chief executive of the hospitals group NHS Providers, said: “This offer shows the government has been listening to genuine training concerns raised by the BMA and has come up with a constructive, sensible, and we hope, decisive solution.
“The NHS is coming under enormous operational pressure and the possibility of further industrial action next week is a huge worry, particularly as we’re facing a tidal wave of flu.”
Rory Deighton, the acute care director at the NHS Confederation, said: “It is very pleasing that the BMA is considering this new offer from the government to end this long-running dispute and potentially avert hugely disruptive strikes next week.
“These strikes would come at the worst possible time, with rapidly rising flu levels putting huge strain on hospitals, and despite NHS leaders working incredibly hard to prepare, we are concerned it could put patient safety at risk.
“These strikes are disproportionate given the generous pay rises resident doctors have already had. We would urge resident doctors to seriously consider this offer, which aims to address access to specialty training places and concerns over exam and membership fees.”
