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 read.
It is the second round of strike action taken by resident doctors since the election of a leadership in the resident doctors committee (RDC) in September, with North East-based Dr Jack Fletcher at helm.
Following talks in October and November with Mr Streeting, a five-day strike was held from 14 to 19 November.
The BMA accused the government in its email on Monday 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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