NHS GP Neena Jha has taken apart Wes Streeting with his own words from 2023 over an upcoming resident doctors strike. It’s yet another indication that Tory and Labour politicians merely cosplay as caring opposition until they themselves enter government. Then, they backtrack and carry on the same neoliberal agenda they previously criticised.

Streeting caught by…Streeting

In 2023, Streeting said:

Now we know why Rishi Sunak refuses to negotiate with NHS staff. He wants the strikes to go ahead, so he can blame doctors and nurses for his failure.

The thing is, the health secretary has now himself refused to negotiate on pay restoration for doctors. This prompted Jha to take down Streeting “by his own admission”, replacing Sunak’s name with his own:

Now we know why Wes Streeting refuses to negotiate with NHS staff. He wants the strikes to go ahead, so he can blame doctors and nurses for his failure.

It is the Labour continuation of austerity and privatisation that is failing the NHS – not doctors.

Scaremongering from Labour

Both Streeting and Keir Starmer have been scaremongering over the possibility of more resident doctor strikes. The Guardian gave Starmer free reign to unleash propaganda onto its readers through his own article at the paper. He wrote that the strikes:

place the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger.

But neuroradiologist Devan Sinha put the Labour administration in its place:

As a consultant doctor rota’d to cover for residents should they strike next week I’m kinda embarrassed the Health Secretary thinks so little of me & my senior colleagues who have the most training & experience that we’d endager patients if we stepped in to cover the strikes.

Indeed, as is usual procedure, more experienced doctors are covering for resident doctors during strikes to ensure that most planned care and any urgent care goes ahead.

As an NHS foundation trust suggested, Labour scaremongering could prevent people from seeking the care they need through an expectation that the NHS can’t manage these strikes:

During these strikes, all other NHS staff (including consultants and other specialist doctors) will still be working, and our focus is making sure as many services as possible continue to operate.

It is really important that you continue to come forward as normal for urgent medical care – especially in emergency and serious life-threatening cases – when someone is seriously ill or injured.

We are working hard to minimise the impact this action has on patients. We expect all routine and planned care to go ahead. However, we may need to reschedule some appointments.

The dispute

Despite pay rises since Labour came to power, resident doctors are demanding full pay restoration so their pay is the same as it was in 2008, when taking inflation into account. There are further issues with the recruitment process for doctors, with many unable to get jobs.

The UK is low on doctors per 1,000 people, at 3.2. Some of the highest levels of per capita doctors are in Austria at 5.48 and Germany at 4.53.

Yet in 2026 the number of specialty applicants is projected to increase to over 40,000. And the government is only offering an additional 4,000 places, bringing the number up to around 14,000, and no pay restoration.

The British Medical Association (BMA) will now vote on whether to accept the deal. Meanwhile, Labour is proving itself virtually indistinguishable from the Tories, despite everything they said before gaining power.

Featured image via the Canary

By James Wright

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