Resident doctors in England will walk out for five days from 7am on July 25 in a dispute over pay, the British Medical Association (BMA) said.
BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said they met with health secretary Wes Streeting on Tuesday and “made every attempt to avoid strike action by opening negotiations for pay restoration”.
However, they said the government has stated that it will not negotiate on pay and wants to focus on non-pay elements instead.
“Without a credible offer to keep us on the path to restore our pay, we have no choice but to call strikes,” they added in a statement.
“No doctor wants to strike, and these strikes don’t have to go ahead. If Mr Streeting can seriously come to the table in the next two weeks we can ensure that no disruption is caused. The Government knows what is needed to avert strikes. The choice is theirs.”
Residents doctors in England, formerly known as junior doctors, voted to strike over pay in a BMA ballot on Tuesday, giving them a mandate for action until January 2026.
Some 90 per cent of voting resident doctors backed strike action, with the BMA reporting a turnout of 55 per cent. The union has said that resident doctors need a pay uplift of 29.2 per cent to reverse “pay erosion” since 2008/09.
A Number 10 spokesperson said earlier today: “We aren’t going to reopen negotiations on pay.
“Resident doctors have received the highest pay award across the public sector for two years in a row, and we’ve been clear that we can’t be more generous than we already have this year.”
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