Thousands of resident doctors across England are beginning a five-day strike from 7am today after pay talks with the Government collapsed. The walkout is expected to significantly disrupt patient care despite last-minute appeals from senior ministers.
Sir Keir Starmer made a final plea to striking doctors, warning the action would "cause real damage" to NHS recovery efforts. Writing in The Times, the Prime Minister said: "The route the BMA Resident Doctors Committee have chosen will mean everyone loses."
Starmer warns of patient impact
The Prime Minister emphasised that patients would bear the brunt of the strike action. "Behind the headlines are the patients whose lives will be blighted by this decision. The frustration and disappointment of necessary treatment delayed," he wrote.
Starmer added that the strikes threatened to "turn back the clock on progress we have made in rebuilding the NHS over the last year, choking off the recovery". He urged doctors not to follow union leadership "down this damaging road".
Health Secretary expresses regret
Health Secretary Wes Streeting sent a personal letter to resident doctors expressing his "deep regret" at the situation. He accused the British Medical Association's resident doctors committee of not engaging "in good faith" during strike prevention talks.
Streeting highlighted that resident doctors have received an average 28.9 per cent pay award under Labour. "Strike action should always be a last resort - not the action you take immediately following a 28.9% pay award," he wrote.
Training costs and equipment
The Health Secretary revealed he had been prepared to tackle the "arduous" training pathway and reduce costs faced by doctors during training. He said he was also looking at equipment costs, food and drink expenses, and exploring additional training posts beyond the 1,000 already announced.
Streeting said talks had been progressing but he no longer believed the resident doctors committee had engaged with him "in good faith". He later warned there was "no getting around the fact that these strikes will hit the progress we are making in turning the NHS around".
NHS services during strike
GP surgeries will remain open as usual during the five-day walkout, NHS England confirmed. Urgent care and A&E departments will continue operating alongside NHS 111 services.
Members of the public are being urged to attend appointments unless specifically told they are cancelled. NHS trust leaders will work "flat out" to maintain as much pre-planned care as possible, according to Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers.
Union demands pay restoration
The BMA argues that real-terms pay has fallen by around 20 per cent since 2008 and is demanding full "pay restoration". The union is running national newspaper adverts highlighting pay disparities between doctors and their assistants.
RDC co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said newly qualified doctors earn £18.62 per hour compared to £24 per hour for doctor assistants. "We're asking for an extra £4 per hour to restore our pay. It's a small price to pay for those who may hold your life in their hands," they said.
What are resident doctors
Resident doctors are qualified doctors in clinical training who have completed a medical degree. They can have up to nine years of working experience as a hospital doctor, depending on their specialty, or up to five years of experience to become a GP.
The union statement added that pay erosion had reached the point where a doctor's assistant could be paid up to 30 per cent more than a resident doctor. "Resident doctors are not worth less than they were 17 years ago, but unfortunately they've seen their pay erode by more than 21% in the last two decades," they said.
Government disputes union claims
The Department of Health and Social Care called the BMA's advertising campaign "disingenuous". A spokesperson said the average annual earnings for first-year resident doctors was £43,275 last year, "significantly more than the average full-time worker in this country earns".
Second-year resident doctors earned an average of £52,300, while those in specialty training earned almost £75,000. The Conservatives accused Labour of having "opened the door" to fresh strikes with "spineless surrender to union demands last year".
NHS leadership response
It is understood that NHS chief Sir Jim Mackey had told trust leaders to try to crack down on resident doctors' ability to work locum shifts during the strike and earn money that way. Leaders have also been encouraged to seek "derogations", where resident doctors are required to work during the strikes, in more circumstances, the Health Service Journal reported.
Rory Deighton, acute and community care director at the NHS Confederation, said: "These strikes were not inevitable - the Government entered negotiations with the BMA in good faith... The impact of these strikes and the distress they will cause patients rests with the BMA."
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
