NHS leaders have called on Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the British Medical Association to agree to independent mediation to end the ongoing industrial action by resident doctors, who are set to commence their strike on Wednesday.
The appeal comes amid a dispute which health service leaders say is making patients “collateral damage”.
According to NHS officials, patients are increasingly bearing the consequences of the standoff between the government and the doctors’ union.
The NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts and senior managers, said an independent arbitrator could help bridge differences between the parties and bring an end to the 33-month dispute in England.
Thousands of resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, are set to begin a five-day strike from 7am on Wednesday, marking their 14th strike action since 2023.
In preparation, hospitals across England have cancelled tens of thousands of tests and treatment appointments to manage the expected strain on services.
Talks held on Tuesday between the health secretary and representatives of the doctors’ union were described as constructive but did not result in an agreement on pay or employment conditions.
The head of NHS England, Sir Jim Mackey, has criticised the strike action as “cruel”, “calculated” with the aim of “causing mayhem” because it coincides with one of the health service’s toughest weeks of the year.
The confederation’s plea to both sides to let an independent figure try to find a resolution to the long-running dispute over pay and job reflects a growing fear in the NHS that it could “drag on and on and on” during next year unless there is a dramatic move to find a settlement.
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Confederation’s chief executive Matthew Taylor, said: “Clearly the current standoff between the government and the BMA’s resident doctors committee is detrimental to all parties, but the repercussions will be felt most severely by patients.
“Like our members, they will be extremely worried as this war of words continues to play out in public and as both sides become more entrenched in their positions. Some common ground is urgently needed, which independent mediation could support.
Speaking on the mediation method, he stated that, “This would facilitate a more constructive dialogue between the government and the BMA’s resident doctors committee and help to bring this dispute to an end, once and for all.
“As we have seen with previous waves of industrial action, a period of renegotiation is likely to happen eventually. But with waiting lists as high as they are, health leaders believe that time is now, in order to avoid more patients and staff from becoming collateral damage in this increasingly hostile dispute that has played out for far too long.
“It is crucial that both sides continue to do everything within their power to find some common ground as soon as possible. Otherwise, we could see industrial action becoming the defining feature of the NHS in 2026, which no one wants.”
Resident doctors are demanding a 26% salary increase across the next three years, along with an expansion of training positions than what has been proposed by Streeting.
They argue that the health secretary’s plan which raises training slots from 1,000 to 4,000 still falls short of what is needed to enable junior doctors to specialise in their preferred fields of medicine.
Meanwhile, the health secretary has repeatedly called the 26% claim unaffordable, given the state of public finances.
The chair of the resident doctors committee, Dr Jack Fletcher charged ministers to realise “how badly they have handled this situation”.
“If the government keeps up the pattern of denial, harsh words and rushed half-measures, then we are going to be stuck in the cycle of strikes well into the new year,” he added.
Fletcher repeated the BMA’s demand that ministers “provide a clear route to responsibly raise pay over a number of years, and enough genuinely new jobs instead of recycled ones, then there need not be any more strikes for the remainder of this government”.
A spokesperson for the department of Health and Social Care said: “The secretary of state and officials met with the BMA resident doctors committee today [Tuesday] for talks to try and avert this week’s strikes.
“Every effort was made to avert tomorrow’s strike action. While constructive, they were not able to reach an agreement. All of our focus will now be on working with the whole NHS team to minimise the disruption caused by the strikes.”
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