Striking NHS doctors vote to continue action for another six months amid ongoing pay row

NHS resident doctors in England have voted to continue industrial action for another six months as part of their ongoing row over pay and jobs.

The British Medical Association (BMA) wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “An overwhelming 93.4 per cent of resident doctors in England have voted for further strike action, giving a clear mandate to continue pressuring the government on jobs and pay in 2026. The overall turnout was 52.54 per cent. Stay tuned for updates on our next steps.”

Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee, said: “None of this needs to mean more strikes. In recent weeks the government has shown an improved approach in tone compared with the name-calling we saw late last year. A deal is there to be done: a new jobs package and an offer raising pay fairly over several years can be worked out through goodwill on both sides, in the interests of patients, staff and the whole NHS. And now that the mandate for strike action is confirmed for six months, the government has nowhere to run and no means of running out the clock. With no choice but to get a deal, we hope that means a responsible approach from the health secretary and a timely settlement with no further need for strikes.”

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Resident doctors last went on strike in the run-up to Christmas. An average 19,120 were on strike each day between 17 and 22 December – slightly higher than the 17,236 average in the previous set of November strikes. These marked the 14th walk-outs since March 2023.

Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are qualified doctors in their first years of training. A fifth are completing their first two foundation years; the remainder are in core or speciality registrar training.

The agreed salary for those on foundation training is between £38,831 and £44,439, with specialist training salaries rising to £73,992. That includes the 5.4 per cent increase awarded last year, but does not include London weighting.

Resident doctors’ pay has risen almost 30 per cent over the past three years, including 22.3 per cent since Labour came into power. However, the BMA claims that doctors need an extra 26 per cent increase over the next few years to restore their pay, because inflation since 2008 has eroded it in real terms.

With the last 5.4 per cent uplift, the BMA says doctors won’t see their pay restored until 2036. It wants pay boosted to between £47,308 and £54,274 for foundation doctors, and up to a maximum of £90,989 for residents in specialist training at the highest end, over a flexible negotiated period.

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has previously said that the government cannot go any further on pay.

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A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “On top of a 28.9 per cent pay rise over the last three years, this government is continuing to work with the BMA to address the issues resident doctors face in their careers, including fast-tracking legislation to prioritise home-grown medical graduates for speciality training places.

“The government has been in intensive and constructive discussions with the BMA resident doctors committee since the start of the new year to try and bring an end to the damaging cycle of strikes and avoid further unnecessary disruption for patients and NHS staff. We hope that these talks result in an agreement that works for everyone, so that there is not any more strike action by resident doctors in 2026.”

Hospital leaders have previously called for the union and the government to enter talks via external mediators to try to resolve the conflict.

Matthew Taylor, interim chief executive of the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, said: “NHS leaders will be bitterly disappointed that resident doctors have voted to continue with industrial action, especially given the huge impact that strikes have had on patients and the health service’s performance and finances. Further strikes will pile yet more unplanned costs on NHS organisations, forcing health leaders to make difficult choices over reducing staff and patient services to try to balance their books.

“We cannot let these strikes roll through 2026, using up yet more scarce resources and impeding the progress the NHS needs to make in reducing waiting lists. Health leaders need to see the government and BMA resume talks – through mediation if needed – to find a long-term solution to this dispute.”