NHS explains how resident doctor strike could affect your appointments

The NHS has issued a warning to patients after strike action amongst doctors recommenced today (July 25). The industrial action, which involves up to 50,000 resident (junior) doctors in England only, will last for five days (until 7am on Wednesday, July 30).

It marks the 12th walkout of it's kind, with staff still in a dispute over pay. Doctors were awarded a 5.4% pay increase by the government in 2024, following a 22% rise over the previous two years. However, the British Medical Association (BMA) is calling for a further increase, claiming wages are still 20% lower in real terms than they were in 2008. Now, the NHS has issued advice regarding appointments as the strike could result in cancellations.

"Starting from 7am on Friday 25 July, some NHS services will be affected due to strike action," the health service stated on Instagram.

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"You will be contacted if your appointment needs to be changed. Please continue to come forward for the care you need."

News of the action was met with a mixed reaction. One Instagram hit out at the "greed" of NHS work, penning: "I feel so angry and upset for all those patients who get their appointments and procedures cancelled because of greed for even more money, so much for a vocation and dedication to their profession."

And a second agreed, exclaiming: "Absolutely disgusting. They got a rise last year, now they want another, greedy people don’t want to work. People are dying, the waiting lists are extremely high, get back to work."

However, many other UK residents are clearly in favour of the strike, including one person who declared: "This is restoration pay to bring medics in line with what they should be paid after years of below inflationary pay rise.

"Don’t blame them for going on strike. Any of you any idea how many hours a week a medic works? Go and educate yourselves before you criticise."

And a second criticised the NHS' detractors: "Would you go to work, in an extremely stressful job, for less pay than what you deserve? You wouldn't, so rest your mouth."

Earlier this week, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the BMA's resident doctors had "recklessly and needlessly opted for strike action" - and shown a "complete disdain for patients".

In a fiery statement, he claimed the action is "completely unjustified, completely unprecedented in the history of British trade unionism".

However, the BMA responded and said the Government had failed to address the scale of the challenges faced by medics after ministers refused to reopen pay talks for this year. The union added: "We want to keep talking – but we don’t accept we can’t talk about pay."