Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system
Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
While Britain initially put up a united front, clapping for the NHS during the pandemic and continuing to show support as pressures on the healthcare system persisted, public solidarity was abruptly withdrawn when the British Medical Association (BMA) announced its latest plans for doctors’ strikes.
Following a 90% vote in favour of industrial action, on a 55% turnout, the BMA announced a five-day walkout that led to a public outcry.
Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, accused the BMA of “holding the country to ransom”, arguing that the strikes would “throttle” NHS progress on waiting lists, which recently hit a two-year low – the first April drop since 2008 (excluding the first year of the pandemic).
Members of the public I’ve personally interacted with angrily questioned why the BMA had accepted a 22% pay rise awarded between 2023-2024, only to strike again. They also pointed to the fact that resident doctors are set to receive an additional 5.4% pay award in August 2025, comprising a 4% uplift and a consolidated £750 payment, backdated to April 2025.
The issue has even created a generational rift among doctors. From retired GPs on my LinkedIn feed announcing their resignation from the BMA, frustrated that resident doctors are unwilling to endure the “paltry” pay they once did, to consultants labelling the strikes as “unrealistic and unreasonable”, the backlash reveals just how divided medical staff have become.
The most notable BMA resignation came from Professor Lord Robert Winston, an IVF pioneering doctor and household name thanks to his popular BBC documentaries. Winston announced the end of his 60-year membership in an interview with The Times in July, branding the strikes as “highly dangerous”.
The sentiment behind this disapproval is sound: they’re worried about patient safety, which rightly should always be the top priority. In the short term, strikes seem counterintuitive, but in the long term, they serve the very system critics are trying to protect.
‘The NHS Needs More Than Just Money – but Investment Really Matters’
As public satisfaction with the NHS and social care is at an all time low, David OIiver examines exactly what the health service needs to get back on its feet
David Oliver
Supporting doctors now means building a stronger, safer NHS in the future and eradicating preventable tragedies, like those seen in the high-profile Dr Bawa-Garba case, that happened due to unfair and unsafe pressures on health care staff.
Even Streeting admitted that this time, strike disruption – which ended Wednesday – “was not that bad” thanks to the “heroic efforts of frontline staff”. More operations and procedures were protected than in previous years, and A&E response times improved during the period of industrial action.
Why Resident Doctors Want More – When They Just Got More
But despite efforts to minimise disruptions, the underlying question remains: if resident doctors have already received the highest pay increase across the public sector for the second year in a row, why isn’t it enough?
According to the latest analysis by the BMA, doctors have suffered a pay erosion of 21% in real terms since 2008, which means that resident doctors – previously known as junior doctors – are still working more than a fifth of their time for free.
While a 29% pay-rise figure has been widely circulated, the most up-to-date figures published by the BMA show that a slightly less pay uplift of 26% is needed to restore pay to 2008 levels in 2025/6.
Streeting has pushed back on this, asserting that doctors have already received a pay rise of 28.9% over the last three years. However, Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chair of the BMA, told the BBC that this figure only amounts to an 8% increase in real terms when taking inflation into account.
The reasoning behind the strikes, according to BMA…