Sunak accused of personally holding up deal to end NHS doctors' strikes

Rishi Sunak has been accused of personally holding up a deal to end doctors' strikes despite warnings from the health department and NHS England that waiting lists will continue to soar unless industrial action is resolved.

- Denis Campbell Pippa Crerar

Sources told the Guardian that it had been made "abundantly and repeatedly" clear to the prime minister that there would be no progress on his pledge to drive down NHS waiting lists until a deal was struck.

One official said that Sunak had been a "blocker" to progress during talks with consultants and junior doctors at the end of last year due to concerns that a more generous offer would result in calls for higher pay deals across the health service, in particular for nurses.

Junior doctors in England staged a series of strikes after talks between the British Medical Association and the health department broke down, with the doctors' union saying that the government had not been able to put forward a credible offer.

Consultants, meanwhile, rejected the latest pay offer from the government in England by a narrow margin last month. Talks between the BMA and junior ministers are continuing.

Sources said Sunak was personally warned the government would not meet waiting list targets in almost every meeting he held with NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC ). Downing Street aides were also told at their own meetings with health officials.