HEALTH minister Maria Caulfield has urged the British Medical Association to re-open talks on pay in a bid to avert more strikes by junior doctors.
She told GB News: “Our call is really for the BMA really to get back to the table and have those conversations. We did listen to the consultants when they said pensions were an issue and we resolved that in the spring statement, the chancellor lifted their lifetime allowance.
“We’ve resolved it with the nurses, which is great news. Over a million workers now will be getting that extra pay in their pay packet this month, which will really make a difference.
“So, it is the junior doctors and the consultants strike that is the main one and that’s going to have a big impact on patients with appointments and procedures being cancelled.”
In a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, she added: “We want to resolve this for patients but it’s also happening in in Wales where a Labour government runs the health service and in Scotland with the SNP.
“So, there’s strike action across the UK but in England, we absolutely do want to resolve that with the unions and would urge them to get back on the table for talks.
“Although we’ve got more people on the waiting list, the waiting times are coming down. I think for most people who are waiting for an operation or procedure it’s how long they wait, not who else is on that waiting list.
“And we’ve eliminated the two-year wait, we’ve virtually eliminated the 18 months wait. We’re now working on those who are waiting for a year. So, it’s really important that we do that, and the strike action doesn’t help to be honest.
“It does mean that procedures and operations are often cancelled. So that’s why we do want the unions to come around the table and try and resolve that for patients.”
She added: “We’ve got our 14 new hospitals. We’ve got over 100 new community diagnostic test centres, so people can get their tests more quickly. We’ve got surgical hubs, over 100 of those being opened.
“So, people can get their operations more quickly. They’re the sorts of things that will make a difference both now in the short term in terms of those waiting lists, but also will future proof the NHS as well.”
