RESIDENT doctors refused today to rule out further strikes as their latest walkout came to an end.

Doctors gathered at King George Hospital in Ilford, which lies within Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s constituency, on the fifth day of industrial action.

British Medical Association (BMA) resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said they remained open to negotiations.

“We have always said that our door is open for talks,” Dr Ryan said, while adding that the Health Secretary had not yet made contact.

Dr Nieuwoudt said: “There does not need to be a single other day of industrial action at all.

“All Wes Streeting needs to do is come to us now.”

The BMA is also in dispute with the government over a lack of places for doctors in training.

More than 30,000 doctors applied for just 10,000 specialist places this year, the union said.

Mr Streeting has insisted that the BMA “will not be allowed to hold the country to ransom.”

Despite a 28.9 per cent increase in pay since 2021, the BMA says doctors’ salaries have declined by 20 per cent in real-terms since 2008.