By Deborah Nnamdi
Thousands of junior doctors in England on Friday began a five-day strike, the 13th walkout by medical staff since March 2023, in a continued dispute over pay and working conditions.
The action, which started at 0700 GMT, involves resident doctors—those below consultant level—who make up roughly half of the country’s hospital workforce.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting criticised the walkout, accusing the British Medical Association (BMA) of escalating tensions rather than prioritising patient welfare. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said the strike was “not about fairness any more” but “political posturing,” insisting the government would not concede on pay following what he described as “a 28.9 percent pay rise over the last three years and the highest pay award across the entire public sector in the last two.”
The BMA, however, argues that junior doctors still require a 26 percent pay increase to restore earnings to their real value from 20 years ago. The union is also demanding an expansion of training posts, warning that tens of thousands of aspiring doctors are competing for far fewer positions needed to progress to consultant level—sometimes as many as 30,000 applicants for only 10,000 slots.
The union says the shortage has left many qualified doctors without permanent roles despite years of training, worsening an already strained health system.
Friday’s strike comes amid a prolonged cost-of-living crisis that has fuelled industrial action across the UK over the past three and a half years, with teachers, nurses, ambulance workers, lawyers, train staff, and border officers all staging walkouts in demand of better pay and working conditions.
