Doctors have accused the government of acting in “bad faith” during pay negotiations after the health secretary claimed doctors had walked away from talks.
Steve Barclay said in a television interview on Sunday morning that the parties were “in the middle of discussing” issues and that “it was the junior doctors suddenly who walked away”.
But the British Medical Association (BMA) said it was still willing to continue negotiations and that it was the government who cancelled the remaining meetings.
Health secretary Mr Barclay told the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme on Sky News that doctors had “refused to move”.
But he appeared to confirm that ministers were refusing talks while industrial action was on the table.
“We’re being consistent not just in health but in all departments that if people suspend the strikes then we can get around the table and have talks with them,” he said.
“The junior doctors have walked away from the talks. We were in the middle of discussions with them.”
Junior doctors want their pay restored to 2008 levels, having suffered a real terms (RPI) pay cut of 26.1 per cent.
They will be staging a five-day strike from July 13 to July 18.
Consultants, the most senior NHS doctors, are also set to strike on July 20 and 21, where they will only provide scaled-back “Christmas Day cover”.
Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA junior doctors committee said: “We have always been willing to continue talking.
“It was the Government who cancelled our remaining meetings after we called for strike action, but we have made it clear that we will call strikes off if (Rishi) Sunak makes a credible offer.
“A 5 per cent offer when inflation is in double digits is yet another real-terms pay cut, and would only worsen the already 26% real-terms pay cut we’ve endured prior to that.
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that Steve Barclay has been negotiating in bad faith.
“Ministers need to understand that they have totally discredited the supposed independence of the pay review body.”
Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, added: “Steve Barclay just doesn’t get it.
“Junior doctors up and down the country have had a real-terms pay cut of around 26% since 2008/9. There are more than 110,000 vacancies in the NHS workforce right now – that’s one in 10 posts unfilled.
“But instead of dealing with those fundamental issues which are causing already trained NHS doctors to quit and move abroad to places where they have a chance of being properly paid and appreciated, Barclay is trying to take us on a trip to la la land.”
