The health secretary has accused the British Medical Association of “juvenile delinquency” and behaving like “moaning minnies” after the union announced that resident doctors will go on strike in the run-up to Christmas.
Wes Streeting told Mornings with Ridge and Frost he is fed up with the BMA after resident doctors – previously called junior doctors – will be taking industrial action from 17-25 December – their 14th strike since March 2023.
He is pushing for more online GP appointments to stop the morning rush for one, and said the fact 98.7% of practices are now offering them should be a “really great news story”.
The BMA’s GP committee is opposing the move as they said patients would be put at risk if they cannot get through on the phone or in person.
Mr Streeting said the BMA signed up to the move then backtracked and said GPs “deserve real credit” for a big increase in satisfaction ratings over the past year.
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He accused BMA leaders of “sitting in the corner like moaning minnies, when actually their members are doing a really good job working with the government to improve patient care and experience”.
He said: “Whether it’s the rhetoric and the behaviour of the BMA around general practice, whether it is yet another round of unnecessary strike action being proposed by resident doctors who have had a 28.9% pay rise, we’ve seen an outbreak in the British Medical Association of juvenile delinquency, and it is irresponsible because we know that the NHS is under real pressure.”
The cabinet minister added: “The BMA is not only holding back the NHS’s recovery and inflicting damage on patients, it’s also self-defeating for their members who are having to work in these conditions.”
He urged the BMA to “work with us” as he said he and the government are in agreement with them over a “whole bunch of things”, including pay, career progression, training places, bottlenecks and international medical recruitment.
“But change takes time and they’ve got a willing partner, and they need to work with us,” he said.
Mr Streeting said he is “genuinely worried” about the doctors’ strike just before Christmas, which he called a “different order of magnitude of risk” compared with previous strikes, which he said have been very well managed by NHS leaders.
He said Sir Jim Mackey, the chief executive of the NHS, and other clinical leaders are also fearful.
“It is not too late to avert that strike action,” Mr Streeting added.
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The health secretary previously called the strike a “cynical attempt to wreck Christmas”.
Resident doctors say despite a nearly 30% pay rise over the past three years, including 22% under Labour, they need a further 26% increase over the next few years to make up for the erosion in their pay in real terms since 2008.
