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The British Medical Association said the strike will take place from 17 to 22 December
Alex CroftMonday 01 December 2025 17:01 GMTComments
Close'We don't want to be here,' says resident doctor on strike
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Resident doctors in England will go on strike from 17 to 22 December, the British Medical Association (BMA) has announced.
The five-day strike in the run-up to Christmas comes as doctors accuse the government of failing to make “sufficient progress towards a viable deal on jobs and pay”.
In an email to doctors seen by The Independent, the BMA said it “gave [health secretary] Wes Streeting a window of opportunity to get back round the table” in a letter from 19 November.
“Today is 1 December. The Secretary of State has not written to us and instead oversaw thousands of resident doctors turned away from IMT posts, all the while trying to push a real terms pay cut onto us in 2026,” the email said.
Resident doctors make up around half the medical workforce in the NHS (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)The BMA accused the government of “presiding over yet another catastrophic recruitment round” and said that doctors are the “collateral damage, despite our warnings and willingness to fix this disaster by getting to a deal”.
The Independent has contacted the Department of Health and Social Care for comment.
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