Resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – will walk out across England from 7am today until 7am on Wednesday. Wes Streeting warns it will ‘hit progress in turning NHS around’
NHS patients are bracing for disruption toda as striking doctors begin the first of five days of industrial action.
Talks between the British Medical Association (BMA) union and Health Secretary Wes Streeting collapsed earlier this week with no resolution. Resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – will walk out across England from 7am today until 7am on Wednesday.
Mr Streeting said the government is “doing all it can over this strike period to minimise patient harm and disruption”. But he warned: “There is no getting around the fact that these strikes will hit the progress we are making in turning the NHS around.”
And in a personal letter to doctors, he added: “I deeply regret the position we now find ourselves in. The public, and I am sure many of you, do not understand the rush to strike action.”
Resident doctors were given an average rise of 5.4% for 2025/6, made up of a 4% uplift and a £750 payment. This followed a 22% increase covering the years 2023 to 2025 – ending months of industrial action under the Tories last summer.
But the BMA said Mr Streeting had failed to address concerns over pay erosion between 2008 and 2025 due to historic freezes. BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said: “Mr Streeting had every opportunity to prevent this strike going ahead but he chose not to take it. That said, we want these strikes to be the last we ever have to participate in.
“We are asking Mr Streeting to get back around the table with a serious proposal as soon as possible – this time with the intent to bring this to a just conclusion.”
Previous walkouts saw hundreds of thousands of appointments and procedures cancelled. Rory Deighton, acute and community care director at the NHS Confederation, said: “The NHS and patients are bracing themselves for five disruptive days of strike action.
“NHS leaders are doing everything they can to make sure patients are kept safe and as many people as possible can still get the treatment they need.”
READ MORE: BMA doctor strikes will go ahead this week as patients face NHS chaos
He urged patients to use the NHS as normal by calling 999 or 111, attending A&E and going to see their GP or pharmacist.
But he added: “While our members will try to keep as much activity on schedule as possible, there is little doubt that this industrial action will have an impact on some services.”
Professor Tim Briggs, the NHS England national director for clinical improvement and elective recovery, yesterday (THU) criticised the strike by resident doctors which starts on Friday.
He said: “As doctors, we are slightly different from other groups in that, yes, we have the right to strike, but we also have to make sure that we put the patient right at the centre of absolutely everything we do, and we must never harm patients. This strike will harm patients, and for me, that is not acceptable.”
On Thursday the government also hailed reaching a milestone of an extra 2,000 GPs. Mr Streeting said: “We said we’d deliver 1,000 more GPs this year – and we’ve busted that target, bringing 2,000 more GPs on board.
“With proper investment and reform we are turning the tide on our NHS, and patients are beginning to feel the benefit.“We still have a long road ahead, and this government is determined to keep our foot on the gas.”
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