Thousands of resident doctors in UK began a five-day strike early Friday, July 25, after late-night negotiations with the Labour government failed to resolve a protracted pay dispute.
The industrial action, called by the British Medical Association (BMA), is set to run until 7 am on Wednesday, July 30.
Doctors were seen on picket lines outside hospitals as talks broke down without an agreement. The BMA states that its members felt they had “no choice” but to strike again due to significant “pay erosion” since 2008, despite having accepted a 22.3% pay rise offer over two years in September, shortly after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour party took power. The BMA is demanding a 29% pay rise to restore real-terms pay levels.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer appealed to striking doctors on Friday, warning that their actions would cause “cause real damage” and put patients at risk.
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In an article for The Times, Starmer emphasized the added strain on the already struggling National Health Service (NHS) and urged doctors not to follow their union “down this damaging road,” stating, “Our NHS and your patients need you.” He added that “lives will be blighted by this decision.”
However, the resident doctors contend that their pay, in real terms, has eroded by over 21% in the past two decades. Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt, co-chairs of the BMA’s resident doctors committee, questioned, “We’re not working 21 per cent less hard so why should our pay suffer?”
Health Minister Wes Streeting also appealed to the doctors to reconsider their position, stating in a letter published in The Telegraph that the government “cannot afford to go further on pay this year.” This current strike marks the twelfth such action by resident doctors since March 2023.
NHS England has advised patients to continue attending planned appointments unless they are directly contacted to reschedule. Emergency care services, including A&E and 999, will remain operational, and GP surgeries are expected to function as usual.
