Health secretary Wes Streeting visited Prospect Park in West Reading during a six-day junior doctors' strike by the BMA, which has caused walkouts at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
The action runs from 7 April to 13 April and is the fourth strike since the Labour government was elected in July 2024; doctors also struck in July, November and December 2025.
Streeting said the strikes were unnecessary and self-defeating, criticising the BMA for rejecting a government offer. He highlighted a 28.9% pay rise given soon after Labour took office and said the rejected deal would add about 4.9% on average this year, up to 7.1% for some lower-paid resident doctors, plus extra training and cancelled exam fees.
He warned the walkouts could cost around £300 million that could instead go to doctors and the NHS, but said ministers would try to keep services running and cut waiting lists despite the strikes.
Streeting, the Labour MP for Ilford North, also campaigned in Swindon. A General Medical Council survey published in April 2024 found 30% of more than 3,000 doctors were fairly or very likely to relocate abroad.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
