Public Support for Resident Doctors’ Strike Falls Ahead of Ballot Over Industrial Action

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the country cannot return to a ‘continuous cycle of stand-offs, strikes and cancellations.’

Junior doctors on the picket line outside St. Thomas's Hospital, in London, on June 27, 2024. Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire

Many Britons are now opposed to resident doctors going on strike, as medics prepare a ballot on whether to walk out, according to a new poll.

The YouGov poll of 4,100 adults, conducted on Tuesday, found that a plurality (48 percent) of respondents oppose resident doctors (formerly called junior doctors) going on strike over pay and working conditions, while 39 percent say they would support industrial action.

YouGov found that Labour voters were the most likely to support a strike (53 percent), followed by Liberal Democrats (46 percent), Reform UK supporters (26 percent), and Conservatives (16 percent).

YouGov said that this “marks a shift in opinion” of public support for resident doctors, compared with the same question being asked in June 2024, when a majority (52 percent) of the public backed strike action, with 39 percent opposed.

The findings come as resident doctors in England are voting on whether to strike, which, if supported, could last for six months.

Doctors Urged to Vote ‘Yes’

The British Medical Association (BMA) announced on Tuesday that members had begun receiving their ballots on whether to renew industrial action, after saying the government had failed to make an adequate offer that would move the junior professionals towards pay restoration.

The BMA’s resident doctors committee (RDC) said that doctors have seen their pay decline in real terms by 23 percent since 2008.

In the meantime, the RDC said it was willing to continue dialogue with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, urging him not to make the same “mistakes” as his Conservative predecessors.

The RDC’s co-chairs Dr. Melissa Ryan and Dr. Ross Nieuwoudt later said on Wednesday: “We’re confident that patients will recognise that the value of doctors has not diminished since 2008, but that working conditions and pay have.

“Wes Streeting must now step forward with a solution that allows us to stay with our patients, off the picket lines, and remain in this country rather than being driven to seek work abroad where doctors’ unique skills and expertise are more appropriately valued.”

Streeting Highlights Public Mood

Streeting has said the government offered resident doctors above-inflation pay rises of an average of 5.4 percent, which he said was the “most generous award across the public sector this year” and building on last year’s deal on pay settlements.

The minister added that the average starting salary for a full-time resident has increased to £38,800, up from around £29,380 in 2022/23.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting speaking to the media during a visit to London Ambulance Service headquarters in south London, England, on Dec. 9, 2024. Ben Whitley/PA Wire

Writing in The Times of London on Wednesday, he said it was a “national shame” that health care workers have seen their pay packages eroded, but said the country cannot return to a “continuous cycle of stand-offs, strikes and cancellations.”

Drawing attention to the change in the nation’s opinion, Streeting wrote: “The public supported the previous strikes against a government delivering real-terms cuts to resident doctors’ pay. But patients are now opposed to strike action.”

“Following the significant pay rises delivered over the past ten months, they can see that this government is committed to a fair deal for NHS staff,” he added, urging doctors to vote against industrial action.

‘Deeply Concerned’

The Patients Association said it was “deeply concerned” by the prospect of another round of industrial action.

Chief executive of the patient advocacy group, Rachel Power, said, “Strike action causes significant distress, pain and worsening health for patients, while placing additional pressure on remaining NHS staff.”

The Patients Association highlighted that previous strikes resulted in the cancellation or rescheduling of 1.3 million appointments; however, they said that number was likely “much higher” as fewer appointments were also booked on planned strike days.

Power said the body respected doctors’ right to take industrial action, but called on the BMA and the government to intensify negotiations.

Longest Industrial Dispute in NHS History

Between April 2023—during the Conservative administration—and July 2024, resident doctors had taken strike action 11 times over pay and condition, which cost the taxpayer almost £1.7 billion.

Weeks after Labour won the July 4 election, the newly-installed government announced that strikes from resident doctors would come to an end after BMA members accepted a pay offer.

This ended what the Department for Health and Social Care called the most prolonged industrial dispute in the NHS’s history.

Streeting said at the time that he made ending the strikes a priority, “and we negotiated an end to them in just three weeks.”

However, former co-chairmen of the RDC, Dr. Vivek Trivedi and Dr. Robert Laurenson, had said that the offer was just the first step towards restoring pay, and that resident doctors would be willing to recommence industrial action if the government did not maintain pace towards rectifying pay erosion.

The BMA ballot closes on July 7, and if returned with a “yes” vote, the mandate for industrial action will last from July 2025 to January 2026.

PA Media contributed to this report.