Resident doctors in England are set to walk out from June 15 to June 19 as their long-running pay dispute with the Government continues, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced.
The union confirmed the strike dates and warned that further action could follow in July, stating that the new Health Secretary James Murray had failed to improve the Government's offer.
BMA members who are resident doctors have a mandate for industrial action until August, with their most recent strike occurring in April. That six-day walkout over the Easter holiday was the 15th by resident doctors in England since 2023, and the cumulative cost of all strikes is estimated to have exceeded £3 billion.
Previous Offer Rejected
Prior to the April strike, former Health Secretary Wes Streeting had proposed a 4.9% increase in average basic pay for 2026-2027, which he argued would leave resident doctors 35.2% better off than four years earlier. The offer also included 1,000 extra training places, but that was withdrawn due to the rising costs of strikes to the NHS.
Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee, expressed frustration: “We had hoped that a change in leadership at the Department of Health and Social Care would lead to a change in approach. Sadly, we have run up against the same unwillingness to move we encountered under Mr Streeting.”
He added: “We were prepared to give Mr Murray time to settle into his role before completing the work his predecessor left unfinished – to both make a fair and meaningful pay offer and make concrete commitments to end the jobs bottleneck throttling the careers of our colleagues. He had a genuine opportunity to break this logjam with fresh energy and ambition. He has not taken it.”
Government Response
Health Secretary James Murray issued a statement saying: “I met the BMA resident doctors committee officers today in the hope of starting a productive relationship and making progress on a deal to improve their members’ pay, career prospects and working lives.”
He continued: “I’m disappointed that the BMA have refused to consider further discussions about how to strengthen the deal on the table and have instead rushed once again to unnecessary and unreasonable strike action.”
Murray emphasised that resident doctors have received a 33.4% pay rise over the last four years, the highest across the public sector, and described further demands as “unrealistic, unaffordable, and unsustainable.” He urged the BMA to step back from more damaging strikes and work in partnership with the Government.
