Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) consultants committee, and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the junior doctors committee, were consulted for this media report.
It comes after the union announced the first ever joint consultant and junior doctor strikes, set to take place later this month and in October due to a long-running dispute over pay.
Dr Trivedi told reporters that they’re only taking this action “because we’ve been pushed to it by the government”.
He said there was a recent re-ballot that saw an increase in the numbers wanting to strike, which he attributed to the government “simply ignoring us”, and said Health Secretary Steve Barclay has not met with the BMA in almost four months.
Dr Sharma said he has been trying to get a meeting with Mr Barclay for “many months”, but they do not want to talk about pay: “All we want to do is actually have some serious conversations about how we end this dispute and actually get a credible offer.”
He said it’s “not too late” to stop the strikes, but they have “no choice”.
Asked about the increase in waiting lists for NHS care, Dr Trivedi blamed it on the government failing to engage and come to an agreement, as well as a lack of staff in the NHS.
“If Mr Sunak wants to achieve his pledge of cutting down the waiting lists, then he needs to pay doctors fairly, restore the pay that’s been cut over the last 15 years so that we’re able to retain a workforce and go back to delivering the high quality healthcare we were once able to do.”
He also said allegations the strikes are politically motivated are “complete nonsense”, and said this would happen under whichever government is in power.
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