Wes Streeting has accused the doctor's union of engaging in "dangerous extremism" after its members urged GPs to direct patients to A&E departments and away from pharmacies.

British Medical Association (BMA) members penned a letter calling on doctors to disregard NHS guidelines that advises sending patients who require same-day treatment to pharmacists.

The Pharmacy First service sees people referred to pharmacies in the case of minor illness or urgent repeat medicine supply.

In the letter, seen by The Times, BMA member Dr Becky Haines said: "If you’re diverting urgently, please use ED [emergency departments] as this is the only part of the system that ICB/NHSE [integrated care board/NHS England] do not want to see overwhelmed.”

Mr Streeting has now written to Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, who chairs the BMA GPs committee, saying that "patients should never be used as political props".

According to The Sun, he wrote: "It is completely unjustifiable and unacceptable to encourage irresponsible action that risks people’s safe and timely access to care.

"Putting patients’ safety at risk to prove a point is dangerous extremism that has no place in our NHS."

The BMA claimed it played no part in the letter which it said was sent "in error".

Wes Streeting has accused BMA members of 'dangerous extremism'

"We had no role in its drafting or dissemination, and its content does not represent the position of the BMA or GPs committee England," the union said.

It is however not the first time the BMA has clashed with the Government.

Resident doctors in England walked out of hospitals for five days in July and the dispute over pay has not been resolved.

The union is also at odds with the Government over online access plans, which it claims could put the safety of patients and staff at risk.

Mr Streeting has warned doctors that the alternative to Labour was Reform UK and Nigel Farage, who has called for alternative funding models for the NHS.

He further warned Reform’s immigration policies would risk crippling the NHS.

Speaking a Labour party conference fringe event last month, he said: “What I’ve said to the BMA is ‘the NHS is hanging by a thread, don’t pull it’.

“It wouldn’t be in the interests of doctors the BMA’s members. There isn’t a more pro-doctor, pro-NHS government waiting in the wings.”

He added: “So I’d say to the BMA: pick a side, because you’ve got a choice here, and there’s a government that wants to work with you, a 28.9 per cent pay increase for resident doctors, the biggest uplift in funding for general practice in a decade.

“We can be adversaries and we can fight each other and we can all lose. Or we can work together.

“And it’s not just the BMA. I’m responsible for one-and-a-half million workers across the NHS, and I’ve got responsibility for all of them, including the people who, at the height of their career, will never earn as much as the lowest-paid doctor.”

The union revealed this week that first-year doctors in England have voted in favour of strike action over their jobs.

Resident doctors in England walked out of hospitals for five days in July

It said the ballot of first-year resident doctors saw 97 per cent (or 3,950) voting for strike action on a turnout of 65 per cent, providing a “mandate for industrial action alongside the linked dispute over eroded pay”.

According to the union, 34 per cent of resident doctors surveyed said they had no substantive employment or regular work from August 2025.

This rose to more than half (52 per cent) among FY2 (foundation year two) doctors.

The BMA said no strikes are currently planned, but current talks with the Government on pay "will now have to produce a solution on jobs as well as the 21 per cent pay erosion resident doctors have endured since 2008 to avoid future action".

According to the BMA, a recent ballot of first-year resident doctors saw 97 per cent vote for strike action

Health minister Stephen Kinnock said in response: "Training bottlenecks are a very real issue for resident doctors, which is why the Government is already working on a range of measures to tackle them.

"We are creating 1,000 additional training places, taking steps to prioritise UK medical graduates and conducting a review of postgraduate training to make sure the system works for doctors.

"The result is that current first-year doctors will emerge from their foundation training into a very different professional landscape from that which exists today.

"Striking over something the Government is engaging with the BMA on would be both needless and counterproductive. It risks setting back the progress we are already making on rebuilding the NHS and improving the training experience for resident doctors."