Doctors in England start a 5-day strike over pay. The government says it will hurt patients

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of doctors in England’s state-funded health system walked off the job Friday in a five-day strike over pay that the government says will disrupt care for patients across the country.

Resident doctors, those early in their careers who form the backbone of hospital and clinic care, took to picket lines outside hospitals after talks with the government broke down.

The National Health Service said emergency departments would be open and hospitals and clinics would try to carry out as many scheduled appointments as possible.

The doctors are seeking a pay raise to make up for what their union, the British Medical Association, says is a 20% real-terms pay cut since 2008.

“When doctors decide to take strike action it’s always portrayed as though we’re being selfish, but we’re here as a body to help the public day in, day out, to work hours that don’t even end sometimes,” said Kelly Johnson, a doctor on the picket line outside St. Thomas’ Hospital in central London,

“Here we are just trying to get what’s right for us so we can do our best to serve the public.”

The government says doctors have received an average 28.9% increase as part of a deal to settle previous strikes and it will not offer more, but is willing to discuss improved working conditions.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged the doctors to go back to work.

“Most people do not support these strikes. They know they will cause real damage,” he wrote in The Times newspaper.

“Behind the headlines are the patients whose lives will be blighted by this decision. The frustration and disappointment of necessary treatment delayed. And worse, late diagnoses and care that risks their long-term health,” Starmer wrote.

Health sector staff staged a series of rolling strikes over more than a year in 2023-24, seeking pay rises to offset the rising cost of living. The strikes forced tens of thousands of appointments and procedures to be postponed.

The strikes hit efforts by the National Health Service to dig out of an appointment backlog that ballooned after the COVID-19 pandemic and led to longer waiting times to see a doctor.

The strikes stopped after the Labour government elected in July 2024 gave doctors a raise, but the union held a new strike vote last month.