Health Secretary Wes Streeting has presented a new offer to resident doctors in England, urging them to call off a planned five-day strike. In a letter dated November 5, he set a deadline of Thursday, November 6 for acceptance. The strike is scheduled to run from 7am on November 14 to 7am on November 19.
The package includes 1,000 additional training places, financial support for mandatory exams and membership fees, and improved working conditions. Streeting wrote: «The offer is one that will deliver more training places for resident doctors, put more money in your pockets, and improve your working lives. It will also protect patients - and your fellow NHS staff - from the disruption and damage of industrial action should you choose to accept this offer.»
No Further Pay Increases
The Health Secretary made clear that headline pay will not increase. In his letter to resident doctors, he stated: «I must underline that the enormous financial pressures facing the country mean I am not able to go further on pay. We cannot afford to do more at this time and no amount of strike action will change this.» He warned that further strikes would make the non-pay package unaffordable.
Streeting emphasized the cost of industrial action, saying strikes "hurts patients, sets back our progress, costs the NHS £240 million that could've been spent on frontline improvements".
Doctors Reject Offer
Dr. Jack Fletcher, Chairman of the BMA's resident doctors committee, responded in a statement that the offer falls short. He said: «This does not go far enough. Even with this offer, thousands of doctors would still be unable to find a job - 30,000 doctors applied for 10,000 places this year - 1,000 more is not going to fix this crisis, nor come anywhere near doing so.» He added: «Strikes can still be avoided but first there will need willingness to offer a pay deal and a genuine solution on jobs.»
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
