Resident doctors announce strikes just after Easter break

Resident doctors in England are to strike for six days in the ongoing row over jobs and pay, the British Medical Association (BMA) announced.

The latest round of industrial action will start just after the Easter long weekend from 7am on April 7 until 6.59am on April 13, the union said.

The doctors’ union urged the Government to “act fast” to prevent the strikes from happening.

It comes after doctors’ and dentists’ pay review body the DDRB recommended a 3.5% uplift for doctors.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the union had rejected a “historic” deal which “would have seen more frequent and fairer pay rises, more training places from this year, and more money in resident doctors’ pockets”.

It will be the 15th round of strikes by resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – in England since 2023.

Health leaders have estimated the walkout could cost the NHS up to £300 million.

“With the five-day walkout last July estimated to cost the service £300 million, these strikes will be a big hit to budgets and a terrible way to start the financial year,” said Rory Deighton, speaking on behalf of the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers.

BMA resident doctors committee chairman Jack Fletcher said: “We have been negotiating in good faith for weeks to try and end the simultaneous pay and jobs crises for resident doctors.

“Frustratingly we had been making good progress right up until the point, in the last two weeks, when the Government began to shift the goalposts.

“As talks progressed it became clear that the money proposed for pay increases was now going to be spread over three years.

“This is combined with today’s pay review body (DDRB) recommendation of a 3.5% uplift pointing to yet more years in which our pay, at best, barely treads water.

“We have made abundantly clear throughout this dispute that our aim is pay restoration, and any deal that did not move us substantially in that direction was not going to fly.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “It is enormously disappointing for NHS patients and staff that the BMA resident doctors’ committee have rejected this offer.

“This Government has pulled every lever available to put forward a generous package – developed in tandem with the BMA – that would have transformed the working lives and career prospects of resident doctors.

He added: “My door is always open to NHS unions that want to work with the Government to improve the conditions of NHS staff.

“The historic deal on the table demonstrates what can be achieved when we work together, rather than be trapped in a damaging cycle of industrial action. It is for that reason that I am not giving up just yet.

“I’ve gone as far as I can – and the Government can afford – but it is not too late for the committee to reconsider, and I urge them to do so.

“My focus and that of leaders across the NHS will sadly now have to turn again towards protecting patients, staff and our NHS by minimising disruption from more needless strikes.”

Dr Fletcher added: “We are simply not going to put an offer to doctors that risks locking in further erosion of pay at a time when doctors continue to leave the UK for other countries.

“We are not closing the door on talks.

“We remain willing to negotiate and are eager to get a deal done if we can simply recapture the early positive spirit of negotiations.

“No strikes need to happen, but Government will need to act fast to prevent them.”

In a written ministerial statement, Mr Streeting said he formally accepted the headline pay recommendations.

“This means over 165,000 doctors working in hospital and community health sector will receive a 3.5% pay rise,” he said.

“These awards are above forecast inflation over the 2026/27 pay year, meaning that the Government is delivering a real-terms pay rise, on top of those in preceding years, underlining the extent to which we value our doctors and dentists.”

BMA council chairman Dr Tom Dolphin said: “Today’s announcement will be a crushing blow to doctors in England, leaving many to consider why they should continue to give their all to a system that refuses to value them.”

Stuart Andrew, shadow health secretary, said: “Labour gave junior doctors a 28% pay rise and promised to end the strikes yet strikes continue.

“Keir Starmer’s failure to resolve this has cost taxpayers millions and left patients in the lurch.

“As the NHS braces for another round of walkouts, it is clear stronger action is needed.

“Only the Conservatives have common sense plans to ban doctors’ strikes to protect both patients and the public finances.”