Resident Doctors Announce Five-Day Strike as Talks With Government Collapse

Resident doctors in England are set to stage another walkout next month after pay and jobs talks between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the government broke down once again. The five-day strike — running from 7am on 14th November to 7am on 19th November — will be the 13th round of industrial action since the dispute began in March 2023. It’s expected to cause major disruption across the NHS, affecting both emergency and routine care.

Resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, make up roughly half of the NHS medical workforce — from newly qualified medics to those with up to a decade of experience. Senior doctors will again be drafted in to provide cover, but thousands of appointments and operations are likely to be postponed.

Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee, said the union had spent the past week in talks with Health Secretary Wes Streeting but failed to reach a deal. “This is not where we wanted to be,” he said. “We have spent the last week in talks with government, pressing the health secretary to end the scandal of doctors going unemployed. We know from our own survey half of second-year doctors in England are struggling to find jobs, their skills going to waste whilst millions of patients wait endlessly for treatment, and shifts in hospitals go unfilled. This is a situation which cannot go on.”

Fletcher said the union had put forward a proposal to “gradually reverse the cuts to pay over several years, giving newly trained doctors a pay increase of just a pound an hour for the next four years.” He added: “While we want to get a deal done, the government seemingly, does not, leaving us with little option but to call for strike action. That is disappointing, but it is not irredeemable.”

The dispute originally centred on pay, but has now widened to include job shortages and training opportunities. The BMA says that, even after recent pay rises totalling nearly 30% over three years, resident doctors’ pay remains around 20% lower in real terms than in 2008. The union also highlighted the lack of specialist training positions — with more than 30,000 applicants competing for 10,000 jobs this year. Many newly qualified doctors say they are unable to find placements after their second year of training.

Dr Fletcher urged the government to act, saying: “We need the health secretary to step up, come forward with a proper offer on jobs, on pay. We need him to embrace change and make an NHS fit for doctors and fit for patients.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has repeatedly said he will not reopen pay negotiations, arguing that resident doctors have already received substantial rises. Talks had recently focused on working conditions, career progression, and out-of-pocket costs such as exam fees, but no agreement was reached.

Rory Deighton, from the NHS Confederation, said he was “bitterly disappointed” by the breakdown in talks. He warned that another strike so close to winter would be difficult for the health service to manage. “Ultimately, despite the best efforts to plan and put contingencies in place, it is patients who bear the brunt of industrial action,” he said.

With no resolution in sight, November’s strike will again test the NHS’s ability to keep services running — and further strain relations between doctors and the government as winter pressures build.