Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the NHS “is coping” during the resident doctors’ strike, but admitted he was concerned about the coming days.
Resident doctors went on strike on Wednesday after members of the British Medical Association (BMA) rejected a fresh offer from the government.
“I think the NHS is coping,” Mr Streeting told The Observer.
“The period that worries me more is the post-strike period when we have to try and recover the service. That now falls at a time of year which is the NHS’s busiest.”
Resident doctors will return to work at 7am on Monday.
On Friday, he said he wanted to end the dispute and that “we will get around the table with them again in the new year”, but insisted he has a responsibility to all NHS staff.
“I don’t think that doctors are selfish and don’t care about nurses and other healthcare professionals, but the BMA’s position can be quite hardline and uncompromising,” he said.
Mr Streeting insisted Sir Keir Starmer has his “absolute support” and laughed off suggestions he has discussed a deal with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner about a leadership challenge.
“I’ve been reading some of the stuff recently and thinking this just bears no resemblance to reality,” he said.
“The closer I see that job and the pressure on Keir and the demands of that job, the more I wonder why anyone would want it.”
After November’s Budget saw taxes increased by £26 billion, Mr Streeting admitted he was “really uncomfortable with the level of taxation” and that the country had taken a “massive economic hit” leaving the EU.
“The best way for us to get more growth into our economy is a deeper trading relationship with the EU,” he said, although he argued any such partnership cannot lead to a return of freedom of movement.