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Neil Gray's offer comes after resident doctors in England, formerly known as junior doctors, announced they will lay down their stethoscopes at 7am on April 7 – immediately after the long Easter weekend – rejecting what they said was Streeting’s final offer to end the pay and jobs dispute.
Resident doctors overwhelmingly voted to accept an improved pay offer from the Scottish Government last month, with the deal avoiding the prospect of NHS strikes in Scotland.
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The SNP Government also reached a historic deal with GPs in October worth over half a billion pounds whilst GPs in England have said it’s “highly likely” industrial action will hit England’s NHS.
The strike action, the 15th by resident doctors in England since 2023, will be the joint-longest walkout in the dispute.
Now, Streeting has told MPs that the Government was “planning on the basis of a prolonged conflict” in Iran, and as a result will not be able to offer more to resident doctors in a future deal.
Streeting also accused the BMA’s resident doctors committee of unilaterally rejecting the deal instead of putting it to members.
Gray has offered Streeting a meeting to discuss "how he can learn from the SNP’s example" to avoid further strikes in England’s NHS.
Gray said: “The SNP’s record of no pay related doctors strikes in Scotland’s NHS continues and is a clear demonstration of what can be achieved through fair and open negotiations – we never take our strong working relationship with trade unions for granted.
“Wes Streeting should look to Scotland for a clear example of how to avert the disastrous strikes that have raged across England. I’m more than happy to have a sit down with him to discuss that further.
“With waiting times in Scotland’s NHS down eight months in a row, the delivery of 16 walk-in GP centres and 14 more to come, the number of GPs rising and securing a pay deal for our hard-working doctors, the SNP is relentlessly focussed on our NHS. Clearly the same cannot be said for the Labour Party, who are set to oversee their second doctors' strike in less than two years."
He added: “Rather than spending his time attacking doctors or plotting to overthrow his party leader, Wes Streeting should take up my offer of a meeting and get a grip on the crisis ripping through England’s NHS."
