As five days of strike action by resident doctors come to an end, the BMA has written asking me to return to the negotiating table. I’ve responded, with the irony of their letter being that I never left the table. We are back to where we were two weeks ago, when I sat down in good faith and offered to work intensively with them over a few weeks to negotiate a package of measures that would make a real difference in meeting the costs of doctors’ training, the costs associated with being a doctor and the lack of promotion opportunities.
The only difference between now and a fortnight ago is the damage that the BMA has done to the NHS through its reckless strike action.
