‘Wes Streeting came into government, on the face of it, with an understanding of some of our issues – but when it came down to delivering, he failed us.’

Vivek Trivedi, a former co-chair of the BMA resident doctors committee knows as well as anyone that the health secretary made promises to lead doctors on a ‘journey’ to pay restoration.

It was well understood that doctors would not receive an uplift that restored pay to 2008 levels, the ask since the start of industrial action back in 2022, but being told by the incoming health secretary that the trajectory was heading in the right direction was an important gear shift at the time.

Fast forward 18 months and Mr Streeting sounds more like his Conservative predecessors Steve Barclay and Victoria Atkins, labelling doctors taking legitimate industrial action as ‘morally reprehensible’ this week.

That stings for many resident doctors who feel like the ‘platitudes’ Mr Streeting gave before his arrival in government now seem ‘hollow’, especially with a 2.5 per cent pay uplift floated for 2026-27, below current rates of inflation.

‘He [Streeting] himself accepted we have suffered pay erosion,’ Dr Trivedi told The Doctor on the picket line outside Manchester Royal Infirmary as a five-day strike – the 13th walkout in the long-running dispute – began on this morning.

‘He talked about a journey towards fair pay. He himself said that we needed to make a deal for years to come – then he refuses to negotiate on a multi-year pay deal and is happy to accept a real-terms pay cut for next year. He seems to be going against everything he said before.’

The health secretary argues he cannot afford to move on headline pay. He has instead offered to create an additional 1,000 specialty training posts and cover obligatory costs for doctors including exam and portfolio fees as well as medical royal college membership costs.

‘Employment and training is now an existential crisis in medicine,’ said Dr Trivedi. ‘It’s ridiculous that we would even have to negotiate for these things. So for the Government to offer these things in a trade, instead of increasing our pay, especially when everyone agrees that we need more doctors, doesn’t make any sense.’

Molly Nobes, a clinical fellow in the North West, said it is ‘really important’ resident doctors ‘keep the momentum going’ with industrial action.

‘We haven’t achieved full pay restoration yet,’ she said. ‘The Government has brought no credible offer and we need to show that we are serious about achieving full pay restoration.’

She said Mr Streeting’s recent comments have been ‘frustrating’ because of his backsliding on the journey towards pay restoration. ‘He’s clearly on a different journey to us.’

Dr Nobes said Mr Streeting is ‘starting to sound like the previous Government’, which he had called out for refusing to negotiate on pay while in opposition. ‘His support at that time now feels very hollow and only when it’s politically convenient for him’ she tells The Doctor.

Dr Nobes said she is ‘lucky’ to have a substantive post as a clinical fellow with hundreds of applicants per post, but has not applied for a specialty training post as it feels ‘almost pointless’ given the competition for places.

‘The chances of getting a training post are slim to none,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t be feeling so lucky to be in my job, but there are people who don’t have a job at all. I’m feeling quite despondent about it but there are people a lot more worried than me.’

Dervla Ireland said the current generation of doctors, many of whom began their jobs during the pandemic, ‘know that we have to stand up for ourselves if we want to fight for our profession’.

She said recent rhetoric from the Government has felt like ‘emotional blackmail’ in that it is criticising doctors taking legitimate industrial action to protect their jobs and pay.

‘These are people who are struggling to pay the bills,’ said Dr Ireland. ‘What we’re asking for is reasonable. That’s why so many people are out in support today.

‘We all work hard, we all want to see the waiting lists come down, and we all have family or friends who are NHS patients. Our motivation is to look after patients. We need the Government to look after us. So it’s really frustrating when they are making decisions that are not in the best interests of anyone.’

Dr Trivedi remembered when chancellor Rachel Reeves said the 2024 pay uplift for resident doctors was ‘a drop in the ocean’ compared with the cost of continuing strikes – and said health secretary Mr Streeting should take heed of that when making comments about the £240m expected cost of the current walkout.

‘And that’s before you start talking about how investment in health has so many knock-on effects that benefit the wider economy,’ he said. ‘The money is there. This is a political choice.’

Brocha Goode, a specialty trainee 2 based in Wigan, noted how resident doctors’ pay is still 21 per cent below what it was in 2008, despite the uplift Streeting gave in 2024 and regularly mentions in interviews on the subject.

‘We are doing a difficult job, in a cost-of-living crisis and a housing crisis. There are doctors who may not even have a job at all.

‘This [long-standing dispute] has always been about retaining jobs for doctors in the NHS. That’s why we need to pay doctors fairly.’

Dr Goode backs the BMA resident doctors committee’s decision to turn down Streeting’s offer on mandatory fees and a modest boost to training posts.

‘If we accept that, and martyr ourselves, how long will it take to happen? Exception reporting reforms [part of the 2024 deal] have still not been rolled out everywhere.

‘If he wants to have the trust of our cohort, he can’t threaten to take those things away if we go on strike. These are things he should be doing anyway, not using as leverage in pay negotiations. It’s like giving us a gift and robbing us at the same time.

‘When you see that they are planning a 2.5 per cent offer for next year, to say you’ll cover our exam fees and portfolio costs all rings very hollow when our pay is going down in real terms.’

Dr Goode said Mr Streeting’s comments about having to make ‘trade-offs’ across the health budget, and that doctors needed to ‘get real’ as other staff had not had the same pay uplifts was ‘disingenuous’.

‘He should properly fund the whole NHS,’ said Dr Goode. ‘We want nurses, HCAs, porters, everyone, to be paid fairly for the work that they do. Rather than trying to solve these issues, he’s trying to pitch us against each other.

‘If we aren’t successful in retaining doctors, there will be a bigger problem down the line. Waiting lists will go up, the health service might collapse. Then they will be looking for someone to blame. But they could solve it now.’

Despite uniformly harsh weather conditions across England, doctors flocked to picket lines to demonstrate support.

GP registrar Haseena Wazir was one of dozens of doctors gathered outside of St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

Describing Wes Streeting’s recent pledge to create an additional 2,000 training places over three years as ‘disappointing’, Dr Wazir said the Government had to acknowledge the scale of the crisis engulfing the NHS by offering meaningful solutions.

‘At the moment in England, we have a doctor unemployment crisis,’ Dr Wazir warned. 

‘We have 30,000 doctors applying for 10,000 specialty training positions and that’s thousands of doctors that are being turned away from becoming the consultants and GPs of the future due to Government imposed caps on specialty training positions. 

‘What Wes Streeting has offered is 2,000 extra places over three years but that barely touches the scale of the crisis.

‘Last year he said that we were on a journey to pay restoration, but in the meantime he has since recommended a real-terms pay cut.’

Internal medicine trainee Niko Manetas said that, while the latest round of strike action had been regrettable, it was heartening to see so many resident doctors still willing to stand up and be counted. 

‘It’s a great turnout – doctors remain united and it’s great to see so many getting together to fight for our rights,’ he said urging the Government to resume dialogue with the BMA.

‘Get back to the negotiating table with a credible offer. We’re always willing to work together to improve conditions and patient care.’

Joining colleagues at the St Thomas’ Hospital picket, RDC chair Jack Fletcher said he hoped the latest round of strike action demonstrated the resolve of resident doctors, adding that he hoped this would once again ‘move’ the Government in the right direction.

‘The Government has an opportunity to come back to the table and get a deal over the line. If it chooses not to then we will be forced to take more action in December,’ said Dr Fletcher.

‘We know it is not easy – I wanted to be at work today – but I’m out here … because we are not going to accept tens of thousands of our colleagues being turned away from the NHS and another real terms pay cut.'

He added: ‘We have already moved the Government, and we can move them again. We are hopeful that they will come back to the table now and offer us something credible on jobs and pay.’