Striking doctor's emotional plea as Wes Streeting hits back with NHS vow

Doctors are appealing to Mirror readers not to see them as “selfish” as they prepare to go on strike across the NHS.Health Secretary Wes Streeting and strike leader Dr Jack Fletcher are locked in a battle for hearts and minds and both write for the Mirror today as resident doctors prepare for a six-day NHS walkout in England.Mr Streeting says his offer amounts to a 4.9% pay rise which is among the highest in the public sector, while doctors insist it is not what it seems, amounts to a pay cut after inflation and comes after their real-terms pay has already been cut by 21% since 2008.View 7 ImagesDoctors will be on picket lines outside hospitals in England from Tuesday(Image: Getty Images)‌READ MORE: Doctors announce six-day NHS strike across England after EasterREAD MORE: Wes Streeting slams striking doctors’ union leaders - and gives one-week ultimatumDr Jack Fletcher, chair of the British Medical Association’s Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) and an acute medicine doctor based in the North East, writes: “Think about the last time you were in A&E or on a ward. Maybe it was your mum’s hip. Your dad’s chest pains or one of your children, poorly in the early hours of the morning. And think about who was there. Not the Health Secretary. It was a doctor, bleary eyed, probably in their 20’s or 30’s - who knew what to do.“From today thousands of those doctors across are walking out of every NHS trust in England for six days. I will be one of them. If you’ve already made up your mind I am being selfish, I’m asking you to hold that thought just for a moment.”View 7 ImagesStrike leader Dr Jack Fletcher on an earlier picket line(Image: Craig Connor/ChronicleLive)Resident doctors in England, hospital doctors below the level of consultant who were formerly known as junior doctors, will down their stethoscopes just after the Bank Holiday weekend from 7am Tuesday. Mr Streeting stated the headline pay offer was 3.5% for 2026/27 but the overall package of measures would have le...