bma strikes are set as resident doctors in England will stage a six-day walkout beginning at 3: 00 AM ET on 7 April and running until 2: 59 AM ET on 13 April, after talks with the government broke down. The British Medical Association said the union took action because the government had not done enough to address pay claims and concerns about job shortages. The walkout will be the longest single action in the long-running dispute and follows more than two months of negotiations.
Expanding details: scope, timing and origins
The British Medical Association announced the action after negotiations with the government failed to deliver sufficient progress on pay and staffing, prompting the resident doctors to ballot for industrial action. The strike period covers six consecutive days immediately after the Easter bank holiday in England. The BMA framed the decision as necessary because proposed pay offers did not restore pay sufficiently and because job shortages remain unaddressed.
Officials have noted this will be the fifteenth walkout in the dispute that has been continuing since March 2023. The action targets routine services provided by resident doctors, who are the cohort formerly known as junior doctors, and is described by the union as the longest single walkout so far in the dispute.
Bma Strikes: timeline and immediate logistics
The planned walk-out is scheduled to start at 3: 00 AM ET on 7 April and to end at 2: 59 AM ET on 13 April. The British Medical Association has said the timing follows weeks of negotiations that, it asserts, saw progress undone when proposed pay increases were shifted to be spread over multiple years. The union has highlighted broader pay review recommendations that it says point to further years of inadequate increases unless a new deal is reached.
Immediate reactions from union leaders and officials
Jack Fletcher, British Medical Association Resident Doctors Committee chairman, said: “We cannot ignore that, thanks to global events, economic indicators now point to years of greatly increased inflation. We are simply not going to put an offer to doctors that risks locking in further erosion of pay at a time when doctors continue to leave the UK for other countries. “
The BMA posted: “Resident doctors have been left with no choice but to strike. Weeks of negotiations with the Government have failed to deliver enough progress on pay, with the goalposts being moved at the last minute. ” Fletcher added that the union remained willing to negotiate and that the Government “will need to act fast” to prevent the six-day walkout.
Quick context
The six-day action follows more than two months of talks that the BMA says had shown progress before the Government shifted its position. The dispute has already produced multiple walkouts since March 2023 and has focused on pay restoration and staffing shortages in hospitals across England.
What’s next
The BMA says it remains open to talks and has urged the Government to return with a substantive offer; ministers face choices about whether to engage swiftly to avert the strike or prepare services for the planned disruption. Health leaders and hospital trusts will be monitoring the situation closely as contingency plans are readied in the days before the six-day action, and bma strikes could prompt renewed negotiating efforts before the scheduled start.
