UK doctors have begun a 5day strike mainly due to a pay dispute. The British Medical Association (BMA) claims doctors’ salaries have dropped by about 20% in real terms since 2008 and are demanding a 29% pay increase to restore previous earnings. The UK government argues that doctors have already received significant pay rises and says further increases are not possible due to budget constraints, though it is open to discussing working conditions.
This strike follows previous industrial actions that have already disrupted patient care and increased NHS backlogs. Public support for the strikes is declining, with more people now opposing them due to concerns about their impact on healthcare services.
The industrial action, led by the British Medical Association (BMA), is set to continue until 7 a.m. on Wednesday, July 30.
Doctors were seen forming picket lines outside hospitals after talks failed to yield an agreement. The BMA stated that its members felt they had “no choice” but to strike once more, citing more than a decade of “pay erosion” since 2008. While the union previously accepted a 22.3% pay increase over two years in September shortly after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government took office, it is now demanding a 29% rise to restore real-term earnings to 2008 levels.
Prime Minister Starmer issued a public appeal urging doctors to reconsider their actions, warning that the strike would “cause real damage” and jeopardize patient safety. Writing in The Times, Starmer highlighted the additional strain the walkout would place on the already under-pressure National Health Service (NHS), urging medics not to follow their union “down this damaging road.” He added, “Our NHS and your patients need you. Lives will be blighted by this decision.”
Resident doctors maintain that their pay has fallen by over 21% in real terms over the past two decades. “We’re not working 21% less hard, so why should our pay be worth less?” questioned Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt, co-chairs of the BMA’s resident doctors committee.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting echoed the Prime Minister’s concerns. In a letter published in The Telegraph, he appealed for the strike to be reconsidered, asserting that the government “cannot afford to go further on pay this year.”
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