Wes Streeting has been challenged by GB News host Ellie Costello in a tense exchange after hitting out at the planned strikes by resident doctors.
Speaking to the People’s Channel, the Health Secretary hit out at the “unnecessary and unreasonable” walkout, warning of a “magnitude of risk”.
However, Ellie accused Mr Streeting of “opening Pandora’s box” a year ago when the Government awarded striking doctors with a 22 per cent pay rise.
She told the Health Secretary: “Do you regret or perhaps wished that you’d settled differently with the resident doctors a year ago?
“You very quickly settled and gave them 22 per cent without any productivity agreement in place.
“And many would say it’s no surprise that they came back for more, you’ve opened Pandora’s box and now you’re struggling to put the lid back on – patients are now facing an absolute nightmare before Christmas?”
Mr Streeting responded: “I did that because I thought it was the right thing to do, and I think that these are early career doctors who are feeling particular pressures in their careers and their lives and I wanted to make progress as quickly as I could.
“I do think the BMA have been behaving generally like they’re juvenile delinquents, and it’s not just on this.
“On general practice, we have rolled out online access to almost every GP practice in the country, 98.7 per cent.
“You would think listening to the BMA, that doctors are up in arms about this and absolutely furious, when actually they’ve embraced this and are working with us to do it.”
He added: “And this should be good news, and I think the BMA are doing a real disservice to their members because they could be out there today saying, ‘we’re rolling out online access, patient satisfaction has risen from 60 per cent when we came into office to 75 per cent with access to general practice’.
“That is a remarkable achievement in a relatively short space of time and a real credit to GPs.
Ellie Costello challenged Wes Streeting after taking aim at the latest round of doctors strikes
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GB NEWS
“Instead, the BMA are complaining about it and I think doing a disservice to their members in the process. So lots done, but if 75 per cent are satisfied, that means a quarter are not.
“So I’ll be the first to say lots done, but also lots more to do. But GPs are working with us, and I wish the BMA would follow their example.”
Grilled by host Eamonn Holmes on how he and the Labour Government plan to settle the latest round of strikes, Mr Streeting explained: “In previous rounds of strike action under this Government, the NHS, its leadership and frontline staff have done a valiant job in keeping the show on the road.
“In fact, the last round of strikes, we managed to maintain 95 per cent of planned care to cut waiting lists, so that was a remarkable achievement, and I’m hugely grateful.
“But in terms of this upcoming strike action, this is a different order of magnitude of risk. It is unnecessary.”
He stated: “Resident doctors have had a 28.9 per cent pay rise, the highest in the public sector, two years on the trot, and I suspect there aren’t many people watching this morning who had a 28.9 per cent pay rise.
Resident doctors are set to go on a five-day strike in the run up to Christmas
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PA
“So I think it’s completely unreasonable for the doctors to be threatening strike action. It’s also unnecessary.”
Criticising the BMA for their “irresponsible” decision to strike in the lead up to Christmas, Mr Streeting told GB News: “We want to work with them on things like increasing the number of jobs and training places and their working conditions.
“They’ve got a Government that wants to work with them, it’s irresponsible. Striking at any time is holding back the progress that we’ve otherwise been making in the NHS, but at this time of year, with all of the pressures we’re seeing, especially in urgent and emergency care, it is particularly irresponsible and self-serving, and that’s why I’ll do everything I can to avert strike action in the coming weeks, but I’m also preparing for the worst.”
Questioned on the rebellion by Labour MPs on inheritance tax for farmers, Mr Streeting said: “We’re keeping an eye on the situation with farmers, and that’s one of the reasons why, from the announcement last year for farmers, the Chancellor has already made some improvements to the package, which were broadly welcomed.
Mr Streeting told GB News that the strikes are ‘unnecessary’ and ‘irresponsibile’
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GB NEWS
“But I know there’s a lot of anxiety about it, and what you’ve seen in Parliament is Labour MPs speaking up for their constituents in rural communities that we are proud to represent, and we will obviously continue to engage with the NFU and others.”
He concluded: “There is enormous investment going into farming as a result of decisions the government has taken.
“But you’re right. This is part of our not just the bread and butter of rural communities, this is part of our national fabric.
“This is part of our national resilience. And domestic food production and supply is really important from a national resilience and security perspective.
“We’re keeping all of those issues in mind as we’re making decisions. I’m sure this debate will rumble on and we will be actively engaged in it.”