The Street is urging the BMA to ‘stop swearing’ and work with him to fix the NHS

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has urged the leaders of doctors’ unions to work with the government on their plans to reform the NHS and to “stop the confusion” about industry action on pay.

Streeting said that Thursday’s damning report by peer Ara Darzi made it clear that “deregulation is not an option, nor is pouring more and more taxpayers’ money into a broken system”.

He told the British Medical Association’s (BMA) general committee that backing joint action on budget restrictions would harm patients.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Streeting said the threat of joint action “could put patients at risk and put an extra burden on colleagues in other parts of the NHS”. He added: “I think doctors want to work with this government. They can see the depth of our mission…they want, like us, to rebuild the family doctor relationship. I urge the BMA to work with us on this, and stop swearing. ”

Earlier John Bell, professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, said the BMA “has been a major influence on the development of healthcare”. He said: “If you’re thinking about the eggs you’re going to have to break, I’m afraid the policy that the medical profession has as a whole in the way we run the health system is going to have to be adjusted. .

“I think that the medical profession is locked into the way of life and the way of using medicine, but they are very fixed, and it is very difficult to move to another place.”

Asked about the comments, Streeting said: “I don’t see any opposition in the NHS. People are crying out for change, and I’ve had good discussions with the BMA about the changes. And I think there’s a real chance. , once we have resolved the junior doctor dispute, to rebuild that sense of cooperation.”

But he added: “While we have added £100m to GP unemployment in the first six weeks of this government and our commitment to expanding primary care as a whole as part of the NHS budget, we are still seeing sabre-rattling – an unnecessary threat of collective action.”

Streeting said “the NHS will suffer if we fail to reduce costs and demand in the long term”. But he refused to tax sugar and salt to pay for the reform. Speaking to LBC he said: “That was not in our manifesto. And the reason we’re reluctant to go down that path is because there’s a cost to health problems right now. In particular, regarding public health and preventive measures. We have to take people with us. ”

Asked about the timetable for reforming the NHS, Streeting told BBC Breakfast: “I’m going to hell for leather to bring the NHS back to what are known as charter values, the targets it sets itself, within five years. which we have done, and to make sure that in the areas of this parliament we see the number of people waiting to be reduced than today’s.

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after the news release

Speaking to Times Radio he said: “I think people know that it took more than a decade to break the NHS and it’s going to take time to get the NHS back on its feet, and to make sure it’s fit for the future. Because if we invest in capital and technology, daily consumption balloons out of control, then capital and technology funds are attacked to close the gaps in daily consumption, and the cycle repeats itself.

“In the spending review, the Chancellor and I are committed to ending that cycle by focusing on capital investments and technology investments that will help us lower day-to-day operating costs and improve administrative productivity.”