The Health Secretary has urged GPs in England to end collective action and warned it would “only punish patients”.

Addressing the Royal College of GPs conference in Liverpool, Wes Streeting said he understood why doctors wanted to “shock the previous government”.

But he told them not to “close our doors to patients” and instead “work together with us to rebuild the NHS”.

GPS Voted to work-to-rule A poll conducted by the British Medical Association (BMA) in August found 98.3% of 8,500 GPs in favor of taking collective action.

Following the ballot, the BMA recommended 10 protocols for action for surgeries, including limiting the number of patients seen by a doctor to 25 each day and stopping work when they are not contracted to do so. Involves being able to.

NHS England warned that the action could not only disrupt GP services, but also impact A&E waits and delay referrals for treatments such as knee and hip operations.

Dr Katie Bramall-Steiner, chair of GPC England at the BMA, said the Health Secretary had “a new opportunity” to strike a fair compromise to save general practice across England.

Streeting has also announced plans to cut the amount of paperwork for GPs to free up more patient-facing hours, as part of a so-called red tape challenge.

He will say, “I am committed to dismantling bureaucracy and cutting red tape so we can free up GPs.”

“Our reform agenda will deliver three big changes to the health service to make the NHS fit for the future – moving it from analogue to digital, from hospital to community and from disease to prevention.”

Officials will ask GPs, hospitals and integrated care boards (ICBs) what changes they would like to see, and the information will then be sent to doctors working in primary and secondary care.

It will then be handed over to NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard early next year.

Ms Pritchard said the NHS needed to get better at “sharing and enforcing” processes to reduce GPS and NHS staff being “under extreme pressure”.

Speaking at the Labor Party conference last month, Streeting said he would not back down from his message that the NHS is “broken” after concerns were aired.

The government previously claimed cancer is a “death sentence” due to NHS failings, while maternity services “embarrass” the country.

Senior health service sources told the BBC of concerns that the claims could result in patients becoming reluctant to seek help and could cause lasting damage to staff morale.

Then came his comments Resident doctor (formerly junior doctor) in England. A deal was agreed last month to halt the strike action, ending one of the longest running disputes in the history of the NHS, which has caused 44 days of disruption since March 2023 due to 11 strikes.

Title changed to ‘Resident Doctor’ – agreed last month – aims to better reflect the expertise of physicians.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors’ union that has called for the change, has called the term junior “demeaning and insulting to children”.

“Resident doctors” will refer to the more than 50,000 qualified doctors working in GP practices and hospitals – some fresh out of medical school and others with a decade of experience.

Health ministers say they have accepted the new name as part of a drive to “reset relationships” between NHS doctors and the government.