Doctors lose new jobs package as strike to go ahead

The government has withdrawn an offer of creating 1,000 more doctor training posts in England after the British Medical Association (BMA) refused to call off a six-day strike next week. The extra posts were part of a wider package of measures put forward by ministers earlier this year to resolve the long-running dispute with resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer set a 48-hour deadline on Monday evening for the walkout to be cancelled if the union wanted to keep them. The strike was called last week when talks between the two sides over pay and job shortages broke down. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said doctors had been offered a "generous deal", but said it was now not possible to give the go-ahead on the training posts. "These posts would have gone live this month, but as systems now need to prepare for strikes and more uncertainty, it simply won't be operationally or financially possible to launch these posts in time to recruit for this year." The government said the move would not impact the overall number of doctors in the NHS as the posts were going to be created from existing short-term posts. Resident doctor