Crunch talks between the Government and resident doctors are to take place in a bid to avert strike action.
A five-day walkout is scheduled to start next week and could cause significant upheaval to the NHS in England.
The Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) – part of the British Medical Association (BMA) – will meet Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Thursday.
Discussions could be tense after Mr Streeting told MPs on Monday that he did not see a “reasonable trade union partner” in the RDC “at this time”.
The Cabinet minister has insisted the Government will not budge on pay, but said discussions could focus on improving working lives of resident doctors.
In a joint statement issued at the weekend, RDC co-chairs Dr Ross Nieuwoudt and Dr Melissa Ryan said they were hoping to “find a solution that our members will find acceptable and that can prevent any strike action having to take place”.
On Tuesday, NHS leaders said there was no extra money to cover industrial action by resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors.
The last bout of strikes, which also included walkouts by other health workers, came at an estimated cost of £1.5 billion to the NHS in England.
Following yesterday’s strike ballot result, we met with @wesstreeting
— Resident Doctors (@BMAResidents) July 9, 2025
It’s clear: the Government is refusing to negotiate on pay.
We are now preparing for a full 5 day walk-out, beginning on Friday 25 July.
Our door will always be open to constructive talks.#PayRestoration pic.twitter.com/6nJXTFdooP
Some 1.5 million appointments, procedures and operations were postponed as a result of the stoppages.
On Thursday, The Times reported that it had seen an audit which found that five patients died as a result of disruption linked to strikes by junior doctors in 2023 and 2024.
One prevention of future death report detailed how 71-year-old Daphne Austin, who had a kidney injury, died after getting “no medical input” on one of the strike days because the consultant who was covering was in charge of 25 patients.
Another states that 60-year-old John Doyle died of “natural causes against a background of missed opportunities to diagnose and treat cytomegalovirus infection, together with the impact of the resident (formerly junior) doctors’ strike on the provision of consistent patient care”.
The strikes ended last September when resident doctor members voted to accept a Government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years.
The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4% increase plus £750 “on a consolidated basis”, working out as an average rise of 5.4%.
Government officials said these two increases equate to a 28.9% pay rise.
But the BMA said resident doctors need 29.2% to reverse “pay erosion” since 2008/09.
Earlier this month, the union announced that resident doctors in England would strike for five days from 7am on July 25.
