Call for collaboration
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has urged the British Medical Association (BMA) to work with government to help rescue the NHS from what he described as “the biggest crisis in its history.”
Speaking at a special meeting of the BMA’s representative body, Streeting stressed the need for partnership, not confrontation, between ministers and doctors.
While acknowledging tensions over pay and conditions, he said recent agreements with junior doctors showed that progress was possible. He pointed to above-inflation pay rises, reforms to GP recruitment rules, and efforts to improve respect and career opportunities for NHS staff.
Progress on patients
Streeting highlighted improvements achieved in the past year, including five million extra appointments and waiting lists reduced by 220,000. Patient satisfaction with GP access was also beginning to rise, he said, though he admitted that the health service remained “hanging by a thread.”
He emphasised that further progress depended on cooperation: “Without you, the ten year plan will fail, and without that ten year plan, the NHS will die.”
Balancing demands
The Health Secretary addressed the long list of BMA demands across different staff groups, including calls for full pay restoration. While saying he understood their concerns, he warned that financial constraints meant “tough choices and trade-offs” were inevitable.
Streeting concluded by appealing for a new relationship between the government and the profession: “I need partners, not adversaries. If we join forces, it’s a fight we can win. If we’re pitted against each other, the whole country loses.”
