Doctors strike: Thousands of resident doctors begin 5-day walkout in England

Thousands of resident doctors in England started their 13th strike over pay disputes on Friday, November 14 till November 19, 2025, despite the government's warning about National Health Service (NHS) disruption.

The doctors’ union, British Medical Association (BMA), is in a long dispute with the government over paramedics’ and medics’ staff (junior doctors) salary settlements.

The health leaders have warned that the five-day action plan may let the NHS cut frontline staff and offer fewer appointments and operations if the strikes continue.

NHS believes that this new walkout initiative since March 2023 will put further pressure on health budgets.

The NHS health trust’s Confederation and NHS Providers said that the continued strike action was piling pressure on already-stretched budgets, as the last industrial action in July was estimated to have cost the health service £300m.

In addition to that, “patients would be forced to wait longer for care and many may no longer be able to work without the treatment they needed.”

The health groups also warned that these strikes were affecting the progress in bringing down waiting lists.

According to the Guardian, more than 54,000 procedures and appointments were cancelled or rescheduled when the residents’ doctors went on strike previously.

NHS leaders said they truly understand how frustrating this will be for the patients being left waiting in pain or discomfort, not knowing when their treatment will be rescheduled.

Chief executive NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor, said that there is no doubt that patients will bear the impact of this disruption, with tens of thousands of tests, appointments and operations likely to be delayed or cancelled in England.

While doctors are assuming to get their pay disputes settled-health secretary Wes Streeting has the opposite view of the picture and has refused to budge on pay raises for residents.

According to Streeting, doctors have already received an almost 30% rise over 3 years.

While the BMA argues that doctors need a 26% pay increase to restore their earnings, once inflation is taken into account.

Deputy chairman BMA, Dr. Emma Runswick, said, "We need a solution for the jobs crisis—then we need to be able to retain those doctors throughout their careers by paying them appropriately, and that means restoration of pay."

As reported by BBC, BMA's Chair Council Tom Dolphin said there was a big difference between what doctors can earn in the UK compared to other countries like Ireland, Australia and Canada, "where salaries can be doubled."

Tom further added, "We want to negotiate; we want a settlement to this. We don't want to be on strike. We'd much rather be looking after the patients."