Wes Streeting has admitted his NHS recovery plan is 'hanging by a thread' as resident doctors gear up for fresh strikes in a fortnight.
The Health Secretary accused the British Medical Association (BMA) of being 'completely unreasonable' after it announced the five-day walkout, which could see 200,000 appointments and operations cancelled.
Resident doctors, formerly called junior doctors, will start the latest wave of industrial action from 7am on July 25 amid demands for a 29 per cent pay rise.
Repeating he will not negotiate on pay, Mr Streeting urged doctors to 'abandon their rush to strike' and reopen talks to 'improve resident doctors' working lives instead'.
He said: 'No trade union in British history has seen its members receive a 28.9 per cent pay rise [over three years] only to immediately respond with strikes, and the majority of BMA resident doctors didn't vote to strike.
