Mass resident doctors' picket at the Newcastle RVI, November 14, 2025 - Photo:Workers' Weekly

Resident doctors in England, members of the British Medical Association, are set to walk out next week from 7:00am on Wednesday, December 17, to 7:00am on Monday, December 22. If the action goes ahead this will be the second strike in a month as doctors continue to fight against the unsafe shortage of resident doctors in our hospitals and their collapsing pay level. The government has been so intransigent in refusing to address the doctors' concerns, or even negotiate with them. The doctors therefore feel they must take action. They have rightly said Enough Is Enough!

On Wednesday, December 10, in a surprise move when only days were left till the strike commencement, Health Secretary Wes Streeting informed the BMA of a new offer, urging in Parliament for "every resident doctor to vote for the deal" [1]. He claimed it was "a chance to rebuild resident doctors' working conditions, and to rebuild our NHS". This comes when a week before Streeting was trying to whip up mass hysteria in the media against the just struggle of the resident doctors, labelling them as "juvenile delinquents" for striking. He also tried to claim that these vital health workers were "risking lives". He echoed this in his statement to the House of Commons when he spoke of the offer that the government has been forced to make to the doctors, saying, "95% of hospital beds are occupied, growing numbers of staff are off sick, and we are already seeing the pressure in our A&E departments. It is against this backdrop that the BMA is threatening to douse the NHS in petrol, light a match, and march its members out on strike." But what never gets addressed by Streeting or the media is that there has been no concern by government to address the real problems in the NHS such as providing enough training posts and specialist posts for doctors. Hospitals and community health services are desperate for more resident doctors and consultants. This is not just "risking lives" or "setting the NHS alight" but is leading to real deaths and harm to patients through huge waiting lists, and lack of NHS access for patients to the right care and in the right time.

The BMA in its response said: "The Government has put forward an offer on ending the jobs crisis for doctors in England." In the BMA press statement, resident doctors committee chair Dr Jack Fletcher emphasised: "This offer is the result of thousands of resident doctors showing that they are prepared to stand up for their profession and its future. It should not have taken strike action, but make no mistake: it was strike action that got us this far. [2]" He continued: "We have forced the Government to recognise the scale of the problems and to respond with measures on training numbers and prioritisation. However, this offer does not increase the overall number of doctors working in England and does nothing to restore pay for doctors, which remains well within the Government's power to do."

Resident doctors strike in Sheffield - Photo: WhatsApp

The press release pointed out: "After their strike action succeeded in moving the Government from offering 1,000 training jobs to 4,000, as well as a plan on prioritisation for UK graduates and those who have worked in the NHS for some time, as a member-led organisation we are giving resident doctors their say."

The BMA will consult resident doctor members in England on whether this offer would be sufficient to call off the next period of strikes from December 17. A survey of members will run online, closing on Monday, December 15.

The reality is that the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting have had no intention of negotiating to save jobs of doctors or the NHS that they work in. They are imposing their plan, announced outside of Parliament in March, to cut up to a 100,000 health worker jobs from the NHS during the course of their "10 Year Health Plan". This is a "health plan" that does not even refer in its title to the NHS, but is part of restructuring of the health economy even further in the direct interest of private companies and of the corporate agenda of government. The reforms are directed to enabling both the state and private interests to operate unfettered by regulatory constraint. Streeting admitted in Parliament that without training places "we then treat them poorly and some leave to work abroad or in the private sector". In other words, the present system is one that wrecks the planning of human and NHS resources. It reduces the NHS human-centred workforce, a workforce which is vital to treat the most immediate and urgent, as well as dealing with all of the complex human health needs.

As Workers' Weekly pointed out [3], this "reveals that the solutions to the problems in the NHS lie with the health workers themselves whose interest lies in building a modern health service which improves the conditions of patient care. The just struggle of the resident doctors, who are refusing to be ignored and negotiate their plans for jobs and restoration of their pay must be upheld. The need is for everyone to support the resident doctors and take up the fight against the jobs cuts and support a plan for jobs and pay restoration. The aim must be for a new situation where decision-making involves doctors, nurses and all health workers, along with communities and people as a whole, speaking and acting in their own name."

Notes
1. Oral statement to Parliament
Secretary of State's address to the House on resident doctors
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/secretary-of-states-address-to-the-house-on-resident-doctors
2. BMA to put Government offer to resident doctors in England
https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/bma-to-put-government-offer-to-resident-doctors-in-england
3. Workers' Weekly, "Resident doctors to strike: The Fight for Jobs and Pay to Provide the Care that People Need"
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-25/ww25-27/ww25-27-01.htm