Labour to meet with junior doctors in hopes of ending industrial action
Doctors from the British Medical Association have been on strike
With a new government in charge, Labour has said it will begin negotiations with junior doctors to end their industrial action.
Junior doctors in England have been on strike for months, causing delays to appointments and surgeries for patients.
The latest period of strike action came at the end of June, when doctors downed tools for five full days, triggering the postponement of nearly 62,000 appointments.
Now, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said that he has already reached out to union leaders in hopes of bringing the industrial action to an end.
In a statement released by the Department of Health, Streeting said: "From today, the policy of this department is that the NHS is broken.
"That is the experience of patients who are not receiving the care they deserve, and of the staff working in the NHS who can see that – despite giving their best – this is not good enough," he added.
Streeting also said that he had already reached out to representatives of the British Medical Association (BMA), with talks to end the strikes beginning next week.
During the campaign trail, Labour insisted that talks would begin immediately with unions as soon as they entered Government.
He went on to say that while fixing the NHS would take time, the Labour party was determined to fix the NHS and ensure that waiting times will be reduced.
Junior doctors have called for a 35% increase in wages, saying their pay has been cut by more than a quarter over the last 15 years.