Is Wes Streeting planning to offer resident doctors a bigger pay rise than other NHS staff?

Credit: PA Wire/Lucy North

Claudia Tanner

There are claims that the health secretary will offer resident doctors a larger pay rise than other NHS staff – but the Department for Health and Social Care has strongly denied newspaper reports.

The Guardian has reported that sources with knowledge of talks Wes Streeting and the respresentatives of the BMA’s resident doctors committee held recently say he is considering at least doubling the NHS-wide 2.5% offer for resident doctors only which the government insisted last October was the most it could afford.

It also published that he will guarantee working conditions for resident doctors in England only: that hospitals will be fined if they do not provide essentials such as rest areas and access to hot food including overnight provision.

According to the Guardian, "senior figures in the NHS briefed on Streeting's thinking are increasingly optimistic that the measures he is finalising may prove enough to break the deadlock" before the dispute reaches its third anniversary on 13 March.