Resident doctors in England to strike for five days before Christmas

From 7 a.m. on December 17 to 7 a.m. on December 22, 2025, thousands of resident doctors in England will go on strike. This will happen just before Christmas. This is the most recent thing they have done in their continuous battle with the government for pay and job security. The British Medical Association (BMA) claims that the government's promise of a 5.4% pay boost doesn't make up for years of genuine wage losses. People are going on strike because the talks have stopped, prices are going up, and the NHS doesn't have enough staff. A lot of people are leaving the field because resident doctors think they have too much work and not enough chances to move up in their careers. Union leaders said that the government's promises to give doctors more training slots and more money for tests and certificates are not enough to keep them from leaving and make patients safer.

NHS England has said that the winter peak will make operations much harder, with surgeries being pushed back, outpatient appointments being canceled, and emergency departments being busier than normal. The Secretary of Health, Wes Streeting, said that the timing was "reckless" because leaving so close to the holidays will make patients who need treatment even more anxious. This was the 14th walkout since March 2023. It shows that there are still problems with long-term funding for the workforce and the NHS's ability to stay open during tough economic times. The BMA says that there could be more strikes in 2026 if talks don't go anywhere. The government, on the other hand, says that its current offer is fair and that the union is putting politics ahead of the health of patients.