Britain’s health minister Wes Streeting said he would do everything he could to prevent further strikes by hospital doctors who returned to work on Monday after a five-day walkout.
The union for qualified medical practitioners in England staged another five-day strike last week in a dispute over pay and working conditions during one of the busiest periods for the health service.
Streeting has been critical of the action, calling the doctors “self-indulgent, irresponsible and dangerous” in earlier comments as hospitals faced rising admissions due to a surge in flu cases.
He said in a statement on Monday that his door remained open to put an end to what he described as “these damaging cycles of disruption”.
“I do not want to see a single day of industrial action in the NHS in 2026 and will be doing everything I can to make this a reality,” he said, adding that talks with the British Medical Association (BMA) would resume early next year.
Jack Fletcher, the BMA’s chair, told Reuters the union wants “less name-calling and more deal-making” next year, urging the government to create new jobs and set out a multi-year plan to restore pay.
“Strikes were not inevitable in 2025 and they are not in 2026 either,” he said.
