Charities call for Government and BMA to 'get back around the table'

In a letter sent to both sides, senior leaders in 36 organisations (including Crohn's & Colitis UK), each a member of National Voices, call on the Government and the BMA to remove the impediments to resuming talks.

Writing in the letter, the signatories state:

We deplore the emergence of a situation where strike action in the NHS becomes normalised due to the entrenched positions of both parties.

Patients and carers have not been heard in this dispute. Regardless of where their sympathies lie, they have the right to expect a concerted effort by both sides to resolve the dispute.

The intervention comes ahead of two days of strike action planned for 6 and 7 April 2016. Father strike action planned by the BMA for 26 and 27 April will see an ‘all-out’ walkout by junior doctors, with no emergency care provided.

Read an opinion piece co-authored by National Voices chief executive, Jeremy Taylor, on why patient engagement might have prevented the doctors strike.

National Voices is the leading coalition of health and care charities in England.

For further information, please contact Andrew McCracken, Head of Communications at National Voices, on 020 3176 0737 or andrew.mccracken@nationalvoices.org.uk.