Wes Streeting: BMA’s strike tactics are a self-defeating ​gamble

The ⁣health secretary⁣ urges doctors too⁣ abandon industrial action and​ work with the government to rebuild the NHS.

All I ask of the BMA is two things. The ‌first ⁤is to drop‌ this unnecessary and unreasonable rush to‍ strike action. It harms doctors, ‌it harms patients and⁤ it⁢ is indeed fundamentally self-defeating,⁣ as it leaves the NHS with less money to ‌address the‌ issues that doctors care about. the second is to recognize that this⁢ government has a responsibility to all NHS staff and, above all,⁢ to patients. We can’t fix everything for everyone everywhere all at once.

Labor ‍didn’t break the NHS, nor did the doctors. Patients are looking to us to work together, as a team, to get thier NHS back on its feet and‍ build an ‍NHS fit for the future. ‌The past 12 months has shown⁤ what this government and the NHS can achieve when we pull ‌together. Waiting lists are ⁣at their lowest levels in ‍two years and it feels like the⁢ NHS is finaly moving ⁤in the right direction.

It should be clear to the BMA by now that it will‍ lose​ a war with this government. It’s not⁤ too late for us both to win the peace.

Wes streeting is secretary of​ state⁣ for​ health ​and social care
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