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Doctors in England will go on strike for five days this month, in a sharp escalation of their dispute with Wes Streeting that further threatens the health secretary’s promise to cut NHS waiting times.
The British Medical Association said on Wednesday that resident doctors — formerly known as junior doctors — would walk out from 7am on July 25 until 7am on July 30.
The announcement of the strike — the first in a year — comes a day after the country’s main medical union said resident doctors had voted overwhelmingly in favour of six months of industrial action over pay.
The Department of Health and Social Care did not immediately comment. Downing Street on Tuesday said the result of the BMA strike ballot was “disappointing” and insisted “we are not going to reopen negotiations on pay”.
Last summer the BMA agreed a pay rise of 22 per cent over two years with Streeting, who pledged to end the wave of NHS walkouts on taking office in July 2024.
But the issue of “pay restoration” remains at the heart of the dispute. Under the most recent 2025-26 pay deal, resident doctors were awarded an average pay rise of 5.4 per cent.
Fresh strike action — which could continue until January next year — will make it harder for Streeting to meet his pledge that, by the end of this parliament, 92 per cent of patients will begin treatment for an ailment or get the all-clear within 18 weeks.
Just 60 per cent of patients were seen in the 18-week timeframe in April, according to the most recent NHS data.
A previous round of strike action compounded pressures on the struggling health service, with about 1.2mn operations and appointments cancelled during 11 stoppages between March 2023 and July last year.
Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt, co-chairs of the BMA resident doctors committee, said on Wednesday: “We met Wes Streeting yesterday and made every attempt to avoid strike action by opening negotiations for pay restoration.
“Unfortunately, the government has stated that it will not negotiate on pay, wanting to focus on non-pay elements without suggesting what these might be. Without a credible offer to keep us on the path to restore our pay, we have no choice but to call strike.”
The result of the ballot on Tuesday came less than a week after ministers published their long-awaited 10-year plan to turn around the NHS in England, which includes abolishing the arm’s-length body that runs the health service at present.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has put boosting the NHS at the heart of his government’s agenda, handing it a 3 per cent real-terms rise in annual day-to-day spending in the spending review last month.
