NEW Health Secretary Wes Streeting will start talks within days to end the chaos of the junior doctors’ strike.
The hardline BMA has been demanding a pay rise of up to 35 per cent – which Labour has said it does not have the money to agree to.
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Last night, Wes said: “I have just spoken over the phone with the BMA junior doctors committee, and I can announce that talks to end their industrial action will begin next week.
“We promised during the campaign that we would begin negotiations as a matter of urgency, and that is what we are doing.”
Another 62,000 NHS appointments were hit by last week’s strike, taking the total to 1.5million.
More than 23,000 medics downed tools for five days from Thursday to Monday.
READ MORE ON DOCTOR STRIKES
It was the BMA juniors’ 11th strike and brought the number of work days lost to 44.
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers which represents hospital managers, said: “It can’t carry on like this.
“The new government and unions must make bringing disruptive strikes to a halt a priority.”
NHS England’s chief medical officer, Prof Sir Stephen Powis, added: “We know in reality the impact of this industrial action is likely to be even higher.”
