Senior health officials have discussed banning doctors from striking in a bid to end the long-running row over pay.

The revelation comes after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch used an article in the Daily Mail earlier this week to say she would subject the medics to the same restrictions as the army and police and called on Wes Streeting to do the same.

The health secretary has not ruled out the idea and now admits it is an ‘option', despite previously saying it was not his ‘instinct’.

Resident doctors began a six day strike at 7am on Tuesday in pursuit of a 26 per cent pay rise on top of the 28.9 per cent they have received over the past three years.

They have now taken to picket lines on over 60 days across 15 rounds of strikes over the past three years, with each day costing the NHS £50million in lost activity and overtime payments to covering consultants.

Widespread frustration with the industrial action prompted high-level officials to raise the prospect of a ban on resident doctors striking in meetings with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care.

They considered the feasibility of such action and the likely reaction from unions and Labour backbench MPs - but no decision was taken and there was no formal proposal for a ban.

It is understood they remain hopeful of reaching a negotiated settlement with the British Medical Association.

Mr Streeting has accused the union of acting like a ‘cartel’ and trying to ‘fleece’ the public with pay demands that could cost taxpayers £30billion a year.

And he has admitted the industrial action will leave some patients ‘waiting in pain or anxiety longer than is necessary’ as appointments are cancelled.

Meanwhile, Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said the latest round of strikes had been ‘deliberately timed to cause havoc’, with hospitals finding it ‘challenging’ to fill rotas following the Easter weekend.

Emma Runswick, deputy chair of the BMA’s governing council, told the Financial Times a ban ‘would be a totally unacceptable assault on the right to strike’ and that doctors needed ‘the final option of industrial action’.

She added: ’The Labour Party claims it represents working people and originally emerged from the trade union movement, so any discussion around cracking down on unions and workers’ rights would be at odds with its very founding principles and should be a huge cause for concern for all unions.’

Resident doctors - previously known as junior doctors - will return to work at 7am on Monday but NHS England stressed services will still be open over the weekend and urged patients to come forward for care as usual.

Professor Ramani Moonesinghe, national clinical director for critical and perioperative care at NHS England, said: ‘Yet again staff across the NHS have responded heroically to keeping patients safe and ensuring that people can continue to get the care they need since the strikes began on Tuesday.

‘It has been particularly challenging to fill rotas off the back of the Easter bank holiday weekend, and we are immensely grateful to the staff who have gone above and beyond to provide cover so that hospitals can weather the storm and limit disruption for patients.

‘The NHS remains open for you over the weekend, and patients should continue to attend appointments unless they have been asked to reschedule.

'As ever, please call 999 or come to A&E in an emergency, and use 111 online first if you need urgent but not life-threatening help.’

Mrs Badenoch, whose father was a GP, has accused resident doctors of ‘betraying patients’ with another round of walkouts and said Labour had caved in too easily with previous pay demands, giving them more money ‘with no strings attached’.

Sir Jim has warned of a ‘long slog’ of a year or more of industrial action and said he was looking at overhauling frontline healthcare to make it less reliant on resident doctors.

The BMA’s resident doctors committee last month rejected a deal that would have taken medics pay rises over the past three years to 35 per cent and created thousands of new speciality training places that would have allowed members to further their careers.

If they had accepted, some would have been earning more than £100,000 a year, while those in their first year out of medical school would have started on an average of £52,000 a year.

The Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement: ‘As the secretary of state has made clear, the government is not considering banning doctors from striking.’