Public opinion has turned on doctors’ strikes a new poll shows as Wes Streeting accused the British Medical Association of “juvenile delinquency” for planning to walk out over five consecutive days in the run-up to Christmas.
The health secretary branded the strike “irresponsible”, warning that the dates, just before the Christmas bank holidays and when the NHS is often in the midst of a ‘winter crisis’, represented a “different magnitude of risk” to previous industrial action.
The row between Mr Streeting and the union erupted as a new poll by YouGov found opposition to the strikes at a record high, with Britons 53% to 38% against.
The strike will take place from 7am on December 17 until December 22, after the union accused the government of failing to make “sufficient progress towards a viable deal on jobs and pay”.
Asked if patients are going to die because of the industrial action, Mr Streeting told Sky News: “I don’t want to be catastrophic about it, but it is a different order of risk and I am genuinely worried.”
He said he has “certainly” had it with the BMA, adding: “Whether it’s the rhetoric and the behaviour around general practice, whether it’s yet another round of unnecessary strike action… we’ve seen an outbreak in the BMA of juvenile delinquency, and it is irresponsible because we know that the NHS is under real pressure.”
Experts expect the Christmas strike action to put “intense” pressure on services amid surging flu cases and staff sickness, but medics say they have been left with “no choice”.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the BMA’s resident doctors committee, said: “With the government failing to put forward a credible plan to fix the jobs crisis for resident doctors at the same time as pushing a real terms pay cut for them, we have no choice but to announce more strike dates.”
Resident doctors also walked out this year between July 25 and 30 and November 14 and 19. They also held a series of strikes under the last Tory goverment. Last month’s industrial action was the 13th strike since March 2023, while the summer walkout was estimated to have cost the health service £300 million.
But YouGov said that sympathy around doctors’s strike fell noticeably after they accepted a 22 per cent pay rise from Mr Streeting last September.
The pollsters found Labour voters remain more sympathetic to resident doctors than others.
But even then only 51% now support them going on strike, while 42% are opposed.
Lib Dem voters were divided 48% to 44%, while 75% of Reform UK voters and 82% of Conservatives were against further strike action, the survey carried out on Tuesday found.
The health secretary also took aim at the BMA in a row surrounding online access to GP surgeries.
From 1 October, the government forced all GP practices in England to offer online booking systems during the core hours of 8.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
But the BMA is in formal dispute with the government over the changes, which it says put patients at risk.
Mr Streeting said the BMA is “sat in the corner like moaning minnies when their members are doing a really good job working with the government to improve patient care and experience”.
He said: “You would think from the BMA that I’ve had to drag GPs kicking and screaming to provide something that most services now provide, which is online access in the 21st century.
“In fact, it’s been the opposite. GPs have responded. They’re up for it. 98.7 per cent of practices are now delivering online access. This should be a really great news story.”
