Latest Resident Doctor Strikes: What’s Happening and Why It Matters

Resident doctors in England are staging another period of industrial action, with a five-day walkout planned from 14–19 November 2025. This latest strike represents one of the most significant disruptions to hospital care in recent years and highlights a deepening crisis within the medical workforce.

What’s Driving the Strikes?

The reasons behind the action are long-standing and widely felt across the profession:

1. Pay Erosion
Resident doctors argue that their pay has fallen dramatically in real terms since 2008. Many are struggling with the rising cost of living, student debt, and long working hours that leave little room for rest or additional income. The current dispute centres on reversing this long-term loss of pay value.

2. Job Insecurity and Stagnation
Many resident doctors face uncertain career prospects. Training bottlenecks, highly competitive specialty posts, and limited progression opportunities have left a generation feeling stuck and undervalued. Some finish medical school only to face years of unstable employment and rota gaps.

3. Feeling Undervalued
Beyond pay, resident doctors report feeling overwhelmed, unsupported, and pushed to breaking point. Workforce shortages mean they often cover multiple roles at once, and morale has suffered as a result.

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Government Pushback

The Government has criticised the strikes as unsafe and unnecessary, arguing that prolonged industrial action risks harming patient care and putting pressure on NHS finances. There have also been warnings that persistent walkouts could threaten funding for future training posts.

Some senior figures in public health have expressed concern that further strikes might be counterproductive. Meanwhile, tensions have risen around the high rates some consultants have been paid to cover striking shifts, raising questions about fairness and the sustainability of strike cover.

At the same time, hospital trusts have requested emergency exemptions—known as derogations—to bring striking doctors back temporarily in high-risk situations. In some areas, these have been rejected by the union, prompting debate about safety during the strike period.

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Impact on the NHS and Patients

Even with planning in place, strikes on this scale inevitably cause disruption:

• Delayed operations and appointments, with hospitals focusing on urgent and emergency care.

• Increased pressures on senior clinicians, who may have to cover understaffed wards and on-call rotas.

• Potential safety concerns, especially where hospitals are already facing winter pressures.

• Public frustration and confusion, despite messaging encouraging patients to continue seeking care when needed.

Patients are being told to use services as normal, especially for emergencies or urgent health needs. Hospitals are trying to maintain as many planned procedures as possible, but some disruption is unavoidable.

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What Needs to Change

The strikes are a symptom of deeper structural problems that won’t resolve with temporary compromises. To move forward:

• The Government needs to engage seriously, addressing not only pay but also the broader issues of training capacity, workload, and career progression.

• Resident doctors need a clear, credible pathway toward restored pay and sustainable working conditions.

• The NHS must rethink workforce planning, reducing reliance on last-minute locum cover and restoring stability to hospital rotas.

Above all, the situation demands meaningful dialogue, not rhetoric. Resident doctors are the backbone of the hospital workforce, and a system that fails to value them cannot function effectively.