Wes Streeting vows to begin negotiation groundwork with junior doctors next week in first act as health chief

‘From today, the policy of this department is that the NHS is broken,’ says new health secretary Wes Streeting

New health secretary Wes Streeting has announced talks next week with junior doctors with an aim to negotiate an end to strikes as his first act in office.

Following a landslide Labour win in the general election, Wes Streeting was appointed the Department for Health and Social Care’s new health secretary, as was expected.

He takes over the office as the NHS faces ongoing junior doctors strikes and an NHS waiting list of 7.57 million.

In his first statement as health secretary on Friday he said: “I have just spoken over the phone with the British Medical Association 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.”

Mr Streeting has previously been clear he could not cave to junior doctors’ requests for a 35 per cent pay rise, but promised to open negotiations with the BMA when in office.

His statement added: “When we said during the election campaign, that the NHS was going through the biggest crisis in its history, we meant it.

Wes Streeting, left, has been handed one of the most challenging ministerial roles in the cabinet (PA Wire)

“When we said that patients are being failed on a daily basis, it wasn’t political rhetoric, but the daily reality faced by millions.

“Previous governments have not been willing to admit these simple facts. But in order to cure an illness, you must first diagnose it.

“This government will be honest about the challenges facing our country, and serious about tackling them. From today, the policy of this department is that the NHS is broken.”

He said the government has received a mandate from voters for change and reform of the NHS, but that the service “could not be fixed overnight.”

Mr Streeting added: “It will take a team effort. It will be the mission of my department, every member of this government, and the 1.4 million people who work in the NHS, to turn the health service around.

Junior doctors and members of the BMA on a picket line outside the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, in January (PA Wire)

“We have done this before. When we were last in office, we worked hand in hand with NHS staff to deliver the shortest waits and highest patient satisfaction in history. We did it before and together, we will do it again.”

In a letter to Mr Streeting, Professor Philip Banfield, BMA chair of council, offered to “work together to get the NHS back on its feet” with the aim of “resolving disputes, bringing waiting lists down and delivering an improved health service for staff and patients”.

​He said the junior doctors’ pay dispute must and can be resolved as soon as possible, adding: “We have heard your commitment to pay restoration as a journey and put our faith in your intentions to work together towards a resolution,” says Professor Banfield in the letter.