TENS of thousands of resident doctors will begin a six-day strike in England on Tuesday, though the British Medical Association (BMA) said it was as keen as Health Secretary Wes Streeting to resolve the dispute.

The strikes are going ahead after the government took a key part of its offer off the table.

The Department of Health and Social Care said last week that an offer of 1,000 extra training places would no longer be “financially or operationally” possible.

BMA resident doctors committee chairman Dr Jack Fletcher said: “The Health Secretary may well be ‘disappointed’ but he is failing to acknowledge a deal was taking shape until his government quietly watered it down, reducing the money on the table, then stretching what was left over too many years to make it worthwhile.”

The NHS urged patients not to put off seeking the care they need during the “difficult” strike action.