What did the doctors' strike achieve?

With fewer doctors walking out than in previous strikes, are there signs of a 'softening' in the pay dispute?

Photo composite of striking doctors
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is said to want to 'get a deal done' with the doctors but there may not yet be 'enough common ground'
(Image credit: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images)

Resident doctors have "squandered the goodwill" of the government with their "self-defeating" strike action, said Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

The medics' five-day strike over pay finished on Wednesday but the British Medical Association, which represents them, has not ruled out further action. In a letter to the BMA, the health secretary said the strike was "deeply disappointing and entirely unnecessary".

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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.