Top doctors’ union fumes that Rishi Sunak is ‘overseeing demise of the NHS’ as 45,000 junior doctors set to strike

MILITANT doctors’ union the British Medical Association has accused Rishi Sunak of “overseeing the demise of the NHS”.

Chief Prof Philip Banfield said ahead of the release of strike ballot results that 45,000 junior doctors could walk out.

At a speech in Bristol tomorrow he is expected to lash out at the PM and Health Secretary Steve Barclay, saying that a “conveyor belt of prime ministers with empty promises” has cut the NHS “to the bone”.

He will say: “This Government, with its silence and disregard for our highly skilled and expert workforce, is consciously and deliberately overseeing the demise of the NHS at a point when it is needed most.”

The Department of Health said junior doctors’ pay has increased by 8.2 per cent since 2019/20.

It added: “We have been clear that supporting and retaining the NHS workforce is one of our main priorities.”

“The Health and Social Care Secretary has met with the BMA and other medical unions to discuss pay, conditions and workload.

“He’s been clear he wants to continue discussing how we can make the NHS a better place to work for all.”

Junior doctors could walk out for three days in March if they vote in favour of industrial action.

It comes after ambulance workers and nurses have taken to the picket lines over the past weeks.