'Threat to lives' warning as NHS resident doctors begin five-day strike

Striking NHS doctors will pose a "threat to lives" as they abandon patients once more for a five-day walk-out over pay. Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrew slammed both the "irresponsible, unnecessary, wrong" industrial action and the "political cowardice that invited this chaos". Writing in the Express, he warns that Labour's short-sighted decision to bow to the British Medical Association's demands with a generous pay deal last year has backfired.

He says: "Rather than resolving tensions, Labour's capitulation has emboldened further industrial action at a time when patients can least afford it. Let us be clear of the impacts of these strikes today. Resident doctors walking off the front line and onto the picket line is a threat to lives.

"Every cancelled operation, every missed appointment, every delay in emergency care is a direct consequence of a government too weak to say 'no' to union overreach."

Former Tory cabinet minister Esther McVey MP also called for tougher action to stop patients being put at risk. "It is time that doctors were barred from striking, just like police officers and the armed forces," she said.

"Furthermore, for the investment the public has poured into their training, doctors should be tied to the NHS for a minimum of seven years."

Doctors who leave the UK for countries such as the US or Australia early should be asked to pay back taxpayers' money, Ms McVey said.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting insisted the Government was doing "all it can over this strike period to minimise patient harm and disruption".

He added: "Despite a 28.9% pay rise for their members over the last three years, and constructive talks on a range of measures to improve the working lives of resident doctors, the BMA leadership chose to walk away from talks and lay the damage at the NHS's door."

He admitted the strikes would "hit the progress we are making in turning the NHS around" but said he was "determined to keep disruption to patients at a minimum".

Mr Streeting also sent a personal letter to NHS resident doctors, saying "I deeply regret the position we now find ourselves in".

The Health Secretary said he stood by the decision to give them a generous pay award last year but "we cannot afford to go further on pay this year".

Thousands of resident doctors are expected to join picket lines during the 12th strike by resident doctors since March 2023.

Since the end of 2022, almost 1.5 million appointments have been rescheduled as a result of industrial action, hindering efforts to shrink the treatment backlog.

Medics who down tools have previously been able to make up lost pay by working overtime to cover shifts needed to catch up on procedures.

However, NHS boss Sir Jim Mackey, who took office in April, has adopted a more bullish stance than his predecessor Amanda Pritchard.

Promising a "different approach", he ordered hospital leaders to press on with routine operations rather than cancelling them to shift resources to A&E and urgent care.

BMA council chairman Dr Tom Dolphin, claimed the move could put both emergency and elective patients at risk. But Sir Jim told hospital bosses: "Frankly, we and you make decisions about safety, not the BMA. Do what you do best, make sensible decisions and we'll stick together."

NHS trusts across the country have been working to mitigate the impact of the walk-out, which begins at 7am today.

Professor Tim Briggs, NHS England's national director for clinical improvement and elective recovery, said it was "the right thing to do" to try and keep planned care going.

He explained: "Because you're awaiting elective surgery does not mean you can cancel it and then just rebook it.

"For instance, if you've been waiting a year for a hip replacement - and I've seen this personally - patients are on morphine, they can't get out of their chair, they can't get upstairs.

"Those patients being cancelled has a serious adverse effect on them mentally and physically."

The BMA has also been criticised for telling members not to inform their hospital if they plan to strike, making it more difficult for trusts to plan cover.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Prof Briggs added: "As doctors, we are slightly different from other groups in that, yes, we have the right to strike, but we also have to make sure that we put the patient right at the centre of absolutely everything we do, and we must never harm patients.

"This strike will harm patients, and for me, that is not acceptable." Prof Briggs also said the main concern for most doctors he had spoken to was not pay but training and funding for courses, exams and medical equipment.

"There has been a commitment by the Secretary of State and the Government to look at that...so I can't understand how we are in this position from the BMA," he added.

Analysis by the Nuffield Trust think tank shows that, in the year to March 2026, resident doctors starting postgraduate training will have a full-time basic salary of £38,831 and receive an estimated £45,900 in total NHS earnings.

Average real-terms earnings for all doctors are now between 4% and 10% lower than in 2010/2011, it found.

Resident doctors were awarded an average 5.4% pay rise for this financial year, following a 22% increase over the previous two years.

But the BMA says real-terms wages are still around 20% lower than they were in 2008 and is demanding pay restoration.

The union has launched an advertising campaign claiming that doctors assistants can be paid "up to 30% more than a resident doctor".

BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said: "That's going to strike most of the public that use the NHS as deeply unfair.

"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."

The public has previously been sympathetic but recent surveys show support has collapsed. A YouGov poll found 52% of 5,000 people surveyed somewhat or strongly opposed this strike, while only a third somewhat or strongly supported it.

Dennis Reed, director of over 60s campaign group Silver Voices, said striking medics were "flirting with the demise of the NHS they claim to cherish and there is little public sympathy for them this time".

He added: "The junior doctors are having a laugh with the future of the NHS with their irresponsible decision to proceed with strike action.

"We have previously supported all the recent strikes by NHS staff, but this proposed action is beyond the pale.

"The doctors were offered the opportunity to negotiate on better support for their training, better working conditions and an improved career path, and they have already benefited from the best pay deals in the public sector.

"But their utopian leaders are intent on pursuing a demand for a 29% pay increase without regard for the strike's psychological and physical impact on millions of older patients, anxiously waiting for tests and operations for painful conditions."

Patients Association chair of trustees Julie Thallon said resolution was urgently needed. She added: "Patients have faced delays and barriers to care for years, and this latest strike adds yet more uncertainty for those already waiting in pain and without answers.

"Continued disruption risks further harm to people's health and wellbeing and undermines public confidence in the healthcare system."

Patients have been urged to continue seeking care if they need it. Rory Deighton, acute and community care director at the NHS Confederation, said: "NHS leaders are doing everything they can to make sure patients are kept safe and as many people as possible can still get the treatment they need.

"Patient safety will be the number one priority for NHS leaders and patients should use the NHS as normal - calling 999 or 111, attending A&E in an emergency, or going to see their GP or pharmacist."

Mr Deighton said the strikes were not inevitable and the Government had entered negotiations with the BMA to discuss improving the working and training lives of resident doctors.

He added: "Despite resident doctor members receiving some of the biggest pay rises across the public sector, the Resident Doctors Committee decided to plunge the NHS and patients into disruption.

"The impact of these strikes and the distress they will cause patients rests with the BMA."