Resident Doctors Face Deadline Over Christmas Strikes Amid Health Secretary's Warning
Resident doctors have until Monday to decide whether to call off their planned Christmas strikes, which are scheduled to take place from 17 December to 22 December. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has warned that the disruption caused by the strikes could harm patients, urging doctors to reconsider their stance. The British Medical Association (BMA) is currently polling its members on whether to accept Streeting's terms. These terms include an expansion of specialist training posts, funding for exam fees, and allowances for less-than-full-time doctors, but do not offer additional pay.
Streeting has also suggested that if the doctors choose to cancel the planned strikes next week, the strike mandate could be extended into January. London NHS regional medical director Dr Chris Streather indicated that the strikes could potentially be called off and described the government's offer as decent. The Health Secretary accused the BMA leadership of wilful casualness in inflicting pain on patients and appealed directly to individual doctors to vote against a hard-line stance.
Separately, the government has unveiled a £3.5 billion plan to tackle rough sleeping. However, charities have said the plan falls short, with Crisis highlighting that only £100 million of the funding is new. Shelter reports that there are 382,618 homeless people in England, including 175,025 children.
