Government ‘has very small window to avert resident doctors' strike'
A five-day walkout is scheduled to start next week and could cause significant upheaval to the NHS in England.
Co-chairs of the RDC – part of the British Medical Association (BMA) – said they had an 'open and frank' conversation with the Health Secretary on Thursday afternoon, but no resolution was reached.
After the meeting Wes Streeting reiterated that 'we cannot move on pay after a 28.9% pay rise' but the Government is looking at ways to improve resident doctors' working lives.
RDC co-chairs said working conditions are being considered but a pay deal is 'probably the simplest solution'.
Neither the RDC or the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed a date for the next talks.
Asked if they would meet with the Health Secretary on Friday, Dr Ross Nieuwoudt told reporters: 'Well, if Wes Streeting is free I'd be happy to.'
His co-chair Dr Melissa Ryan said: 'The advantage of being a doctor is that we're used to working all hours of all days, so we said we're available at any moment to continue our talks.'
Dr Nieuwoudt added: 'We have a very small window of opportunity over the next few days to avert strike action.
'Talks today have been constructive, they're a first step, it was a very high-level discussion, we're looking forward to more discussions to hopefully avert strike action.'
After the meeting, Mr Streeting said in a statement: 'We had a constructive conversation with the BMA (British Medical Association) today and we'll be having further conversations in the coming days to try to avert strike action.
'While we cannot move on pay after a 28.9% pay rise, we are working on areas where we can improve working lives for resident doctors.
'Strikes have a serious cost for patients, so I am appealing to the BMA to call them off and instead work together to improve their members' working conditions and continue rebuilding the NHS.'
Ahead of the meeting at Portcullis House, it was put to the RDC co-chairs that the public was 'broadly on-side' for the previous round of strikes but support is now 'waning'.
Dr Ryan responded: 'I think that the public is behind us in the sense that they want to see doctors paid fairly, they want doctors to be in the NHS, doctors retained, because ultimately they want good care'.
On Tuesday, NHS leaders said there was no extra money to cover industrial action by resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors.
The last round of strikes, which also included walkouts by other health workers, came at an estimated cost of £1.5 billion to the NHS in England.
Some 1.5 million appointments, procedures and operations were postponed as a result of the stoppages.
On Thursday, The Times reported that it had seen an audit which found that five patients died as a result of disruption linked to strikes by junior doctors in 2023 and 2024.
One prevention of future death report detailed how 71-year-old Daphne Austin, who had a kidney injury, died after getting 'no medical input' on one of the strike days because the consultant who was covering was in charge of 25 patients.
Another states that 60-year-old John Doyle died of 'natural causes against a background of missed opportunities to diagnose and treat cytomegalovirus infection, together with the impact of the resident (formerly junior) doctors' strike on the provision of consistent patient care'.
Asked if they recognise the report in The Times as true, Dr Nieuwoudt said: 'The evidence that we've seen, the evidence over the past few years, is that the processes that we have in place in order to maintain patient safety are robust and they've been working well, they've been the processes that have been in place since 2016 and over 11 rounds of industrial action.'
He added: 'What you're seeing, instead of resident doctors in the hospitals, is the most highly trained and specialised doctors looking after acute patients.
'We just need to ensure that the (NHS) trusts are picking up their responsibility of cancelling elective services and moving those consultants over to where they're needed, which is protecting the patients in acute setting during industrial action.'
The strikes ended last September when resident doctor members voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years.
The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4% increase plus £750 'on a consolidated basis', working out as an average rise of 5.4%.
Government officials said these two increases equate to a 28.9% pay rise.
But the BMA said resident doctors need 29.2% to reverse 'pay erosion' since 2008/09.
Earlier this month, the union announced that resident doctors in England would strike for five days from 7am on July 25.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
AstraZeneca's (AZN) Dividend: Resilient, Predictable, and Built on Innovation
AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is included among the Top 10 Safest Dividend Stocks in the UK. A pharmacy worker distributing prescription medicines to patientsreceiving treatment for oncology, cardiovascular, renal, metabolism and respiratory diseases. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is well-positioned to handle upcoming patent expirations, thanks to a robust pipeline of drugs in development. By the close of the first quarter, the company had gained approval or label updates for roughly 13 treatments. Two of its most notable experimental drugs, AZD5004 and AZD6234, show potential in the weight management space. In total, the company is advancing nearly 200 research programs across its development pipeline. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) recently announced plans to invest $50 billion in the US by 2030. This initiative is expected to generate tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs nationwide. A key part of the investment includes the development of a new multi-billion-dollar manufacturing site in the US, which will focus on producing drug substances for its weight management and metabolic treatments—such as oral GLP-1, baxdrostat, oral PCSK9, and combination small molecule therapies. This commitment comes on top of the $3.5 billion investment the company revealed in November 2024. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is a solid dividend payer, as it has paid uninterrupted dividends to shareholders for the past 32 years. The company offers an interim dividend of $1.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.13%, as of July 25. While we acknowledge the potential of AZN as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure: None.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
West Midlands Ambulance Service shares 5 things you should do after calling 999
Nobody wants to call 999, but if you do need help in an emergency, there are a few things you should know. West Midlands Ambulance Service has issued advice to anyone dialling 999 for medical help. According to the ambulance service, there were five things people should do after making the call. READ MORE: Dad diagnosed with cancer after friend notices worrying symptom The first instruction applied to people who were outdoors with patients. If this were the case, the caller should stay with the patient until help arrived. The second piece of advice was to keep a close eye on the patient - and to call 999 back straight away if their condition worsens. The third tip was to lock away any pets if paramedics were coming to a family home. People should also ensure that medics can easily identify the property they are attending. To assist crews, put lights on if it is dark, and if possible, send someone outside to wave them down. The fifth and final tip was to write down the patient's GP details and collect any medication they are taking to hand over to medics. Stay up-to-date by following our Twitter feed @birmingham_live or liking our Facebook page. To get breaking news emailed to you, sign up here, it's free.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
'I'm an unpaid carer for my mum in Greenwich - it's like grieving your own life'
Seven years ago Denise Wilkins was a successful accountant who was regularly travelling across Europe for her work. Her career achievements were remarkable considering she had been simultaneously caring for her mum, Maureen Shields, since the age of 14 when she started to lose her sight. But in 2018 everything changed. Maureen woke up one morning and couldn't move. She'd developed osteoporosis, a condition which weakens bones and makes them more susceptible to fractures. Maureen had spinal fractures that prevented her movement and caused her excruciating pain. Denise was forced to give up the career she'd worked so hard to build to look after Maureen full-time. Denise, now 54, said: 'It's almost like grieving the loss of your own life. You're grieving because of the loss of what's happened to somebody else, and seeing somebody in constant pain is hard. "It's also just incredibly mentally and emotionally wearing having to not only deal with your own life's disappointments and problems, but also the emotions that they're going through.' Denise lives with her 89-year-old mum in a flat in Vanbrugh Hill, Greenwich and has said the experience has had a profound impact on her mental health and wellbeing, to the point that she's been prescribed antidepressants to cope. Never in doubt was it that she would be there for her mum, but the lack of support from the government for unpaid carers like her has led to burnout and a feeling of being abandoned. 'There's a lack of support, a lack of understanding, and a lack of recognition,' Denise said. 'I just don't think people really understand just how all time consuming it is, and to be honest, it is very emotionally draining.' After the osteoporosis diagnosis the family moved from Loughton in Essex – their home for over 20 years – to Greenwich in order to be closer to King's College Hospital and because they couldn't adapt their Essex home to Maureen's needs. Maureen had a series of operations which stabilised her condition, but it left her with virtually no mobility. Denise has looked after her mum on a near daily basis since then as she can't afford to get paid carers in to help. She praised the work the NHS did in treating Maureen, but was critical of the provision for care that is provided afterwards. She said: 'There is just this assumption that the family's going to step in. There is nothing wrong with that, but then you realise there is very little support out there to recognise what you've lost in your life. It was life-changing for her, but it was also life-changing for me.' Denise felt that since she started looking after her mother in 2018, she has massively missed out on living her own life. She said: 'I mean not just financially, career-wise, socially, but all hobbies and interests have been completely put on hold. Even things like your own fitness levels and personal relationships. 'You feel like it's not just the person who needs to be cared for whose life has changed. It's almost like you've got an illness too.' Denise said she even has trouble attending to her own medical needs due to the lack of available appointments. If she's not able to find someone to look after her mum at the time when a GP appointment is offered, she can't attend it. Denise said she has been on antidepressants for the past six years, something she directly attributed to the stress of being a full-time carer. She is often told by people to take a break, but that is something that is incredibly difficult for her because she would need to find someone Maureen is comfortable with, who is able to look after her and she is able to afford. Her own retirement is in doubt Since becoming a carer, Denise hasn't been able to pay into her pension. For work, she has been able to pick up some zero-hour flexible contracts for minimum wage. 'While you're going through this journey you talk to other people and you find that it's common across the board,' she said. 'You start to realise that if people weren't stepping in and doing what they were doing, the whole adult social care system would just collapse.' Denise was critical of the government's stance on adult social care. She said: 'I can remember for at least the last 10 years that it's going to be reviewed. There's been loads of these reports, and you just feel like saying to people, 'Come on, we need to address this'. 'We need to, not just as individuals but as a society, look at how we're going to handle this.' When asked what changes she would like to see the government make to adult social care and the role of carers, Denise said: 'I think they could really do a lot more in terms of allowing carers to have time off, especially with work. 'You're allowed to take two or three days' unpaid leave, but that's nothing. It doesn't even begin to cover the number of hospital appointments that you'll need to attend.' She also hoped that a system could be brought in that would allow for carers to be registered and recognised. 'It would allow us to be able to go to employers and people and say, 'I am a registered carer'.' Denise also wanted the government to recognise that often carers are skilled workers who could be put to use helping society if there was more of a push to get them to work from home. 'There's a whole skill base out there of people like me who have got the qualifications and have got the work experience,' she said. 'I think that's another frustrating thing. They go off and supposedly do these reviews, but they never ever seem to talk to us. We're not just sitting here complaining. We actually feel that we've got things we could suggest.' Protest outside Parliament In an attempt to drive the issue of carers into the public eye and onto the government agenda, Denise took part in a protest on Tuesday (July 22) outside Parliament. As she can't get away from her caring duties, Denise wasn't there in person. Her story, alongside those of several other unpaid carers, will be broadcast on LED screens outside government buildings in an attempt to get politicians to listen. The protest, which was set up by Uncommon Creative Studio and is backed by charity Carers Trust, has been launched in conjunction with a petition which calls on the government to give all unpaid carers the legal right to a break. Kirsty McHugh, CEO of Carers Trust, said: 'It's incredibly disappointing that the UK Government still hasn't given unpaid carers a right to respite. For decades, successive governments have depended on unpaid carers to provide social care on the cheap, which has delayed the need to come up with long-term funding and support. 'Whilst the government is focused on strengthening employment rights, it seems to have forgotten unpaid carers – who can't take a break at all.'
