Health Secretary Wes Streeting has made a last-minute bid to avert pre-Christmas strikes by UK doctors. It is proposing "emergency legislation" which will prioritize medical graduates from the UK and Ireland, as well as doctors with longer NHS experience, in the allocation of specialist training places over international graduates. The deal includes a total of around 4,000 specialist training places, including 1,000 for 2026. Doctors could also get a further 4,000 training places, the opportunity to examine at the Royal College and cover membership fees. However, the offer does not include any pay rise, a key demand of the BMA, which is asking for around a 29% pay rise for resident doctors after years of declining real incomes. The goal of the proposal is to prevent planned strikes that could disrupt health care before Christmas. Doctors have long pointed out the lack of places for professional training, where there are currently approximately 10,000 places for more than 30,000 applicants[2].