Fears of new strikes as doctors vote on pay

Hospitals are bracing for a fresh round of strikes by resident doctors seeking a 29% pay rise, amid warnings that stoppages could lead to hundreds of thousands of appointments and operations being cancelled.

- Denis Campbell

NHS leaders fear that a ballot of resident doctors in England that closes today will produce a majority backing renewed industrial action.

If so, the health service will face prolonged disruption from tens of thousands of resident doctors - formerly known as junior doctors - once again staging a series of strikes in an attempt to secure a 29% pay rise.

Huge numbers of outpatient appointments and procedures were cancelled when junior doctors went on strike for a total of 44 days between March 2023 and July 2024.

Soon after Labour took power last year, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, gave them a 22% pay rise for 2023-24 and 2024-25, which ended their stoppages.

But they are threatening to stage six months of strikes, from this month into next winter and up to January 2026, after he awarded them a 5.4% pay rise for this year - the highest in the public sector.

The British Medical Association, which is balloting the 55,000 resident doctors it represents, described that figure as "derisory" and "woefully inadequate". It says they deserve a pay rise of 29% over the next few years in order to ensure that resident doctors receive "full pay restoration" to make up for a 23% loss in the value of their salaries since 2008.