The National Health Service is bracing for a period of intense pressure as a five-day strike by resident doctors coincides with a record-breaking surge in influenza cases across the United Kingdom.
Strike Action and Winter Pressures Collide
The British Medical Association (BMA) has confirmed that its resident doctor members will walk out from 7am on 17 December until 7am on 22 December 2025. This marks the 14th such strike since industrial action began in March 2023. The timing is particularly critical, as official figures show an average of 2,660 patients per day were in hospital with flu last week, a staggering 55% increase from the week before.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has strongly criticised the timing of the walkout, stating the BMA has chosen to strike at the "worst possible time" to "cause maximum impact and damage to the NHS". He told Sky News, "I think that is irresponsible and I think it’s dangerous," and offered to facilitate a rescheduling of the action to January.
The BMA has fired back, urging Mr Streeting to "stop scaremongering" and accusing him of exploiting public fears. The union insists the government's focus should be on ending the strikes by addressing their core concerns.
The Core of the Dispute: Pay and Jobs
The strike proceeds after resident doctors, who are qualified doctors in their foundational and specialist training years, overwhelmingly rejected a last-minute government offer. The vote saw 83% of members rejecting the deal.
The government's offer, made on 10 December, did not include any new pay increase. It instead proposed creating an additional 4,000 specialty training posts over three years by repurposing existing roles, and promised to prioritise UK graduates and NHS workers for these positions. With over 30,000 applicants for roughly 10,000 such jobs in 2025, competition is fierce.
On pay, the BMA argues that despite a 28.9% rise over the past three years (including a 22.3% increase since Labour took power), salaries have been eroded by inflation since 2008. They are seeking a further 26% increase over a negotiated period to restore pay to 2008 levels. With the current 5.4% uplift awarded this year, they claim pay restoration would not be achieved until 2036.
Government and Union Stand Firm
Mr Streeting has remained steadfast in refusing to reopen pay negotiations, defending the rejected offer as one that "would have halved competition for jobs and put more money in resident doctors’ pockets". He argues there is "no justification" for striking over an unmet "fantasy demand".
Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee, countered that the offer contained "no new jobs" and merely "cannibalised" existing ones. He stated the health secretary had "fumbled his opportunity to end industrial action" by failing to present a credible path to restoring pay.
As the strike begins, the NHS faces the dual challenge of managing significant winter virus pressures while mitigating the impact of the withdrawal of labour from a key part of its medical workforce in the run-up to the Christmas holiday.
