HOSPITALS face nearly half the medical workforce going out on strike during the busy winter period after resident doctors in England overwhelmingly rejected the government’s latest offer on jobs today.

British Medical Association (BMA) members voted by 83 per cent to 17 per cent to press ahead with their five-day walkout starting tomorrow at 7am amid record levels of flu cases in hospitals in England for this time of year. Turnout was 65 per cent.

BMA resident doctors’ committee chair Dr Jack Fletcher said that the “resounding response should leave the Health Secretary in no doubt about how badly he has just fumbled his opportunity to end industrial action. 

“Tens of thousands of front-line doctors have come together to say ‘no’ to what is clearly too little, too late.”

The union has been calling for pay restoration in real terms to pre-austerity levels and to stem the thousands leaving the NHS to work abroad.

Pay rises of 28.9 per cent over the past three years have been largely negated by inflation. The BMA is also calling for urgent action to tackle the huge shortage of specialist training places for doctors within the NHS.

The government’s offer included a fast expansion of specialist training posts as well as covering out-of-pocket expenses such as exam fees, but no extra pay.

Dr Fletcher insisted that strike action is “still entirely avoidable,” urging the Health Secretary Wes Streeting to come up with “a credible offer to end this jobs crisis and avert the real terms pay cuts he is pushing in 2026.

“There are no new jobs in this offer — he has simply cannibalised those jobs which already existed for the sake of ‘new’ jobs on paper,” he added.

“Neither was there anything on what Mr Streeting has said is a journey to restoring our pay — that has clearly hit the buffers.

“We remain committed to ensuring patient safety, as we have done with all previous rounds of strike action, and urge hospital trusts to continue planning to ensure safe staffing. 

“We will be in close contact with NHS England throughout the strikes to address safety concerns if they arise.” 

Appearing in front of MPs on the liaison committee, PM Sir Keir Starmer described the strike action as “irresponsible” and appealed to BMA members to “push back against” their union.

Earlier, Mr Streeting said: “The BMA has chosen Christmas strikes to inflict damage on the NHS at the moment of maximum danger, refusing to postpone them to January to help patients and other NHS staff cope over Christmas.

“There is no need for these strikes to go ahead this week, and it reveals the BMA’s shocking disregard for patient safety and for other NHS staff.

“These strikes are self-indulgent, irresponsible and dangerous.”

But Keep Our NHS Public co-chair Dr Tony O’Sullivan added: “Wes Streeting says that the BMA have ‘chosen Christmas strikes to inflict damage on the NHS at the moment of maximum danger.’ We say that residents are striking to try to save the NHS longer term. 

“Literally thousands of resident doctors are leaving the NHS (and indeed the country) every year to work in better funded systems where they are paid more and valued more. 

“Added to that, the severe and longstanding lack of training places are now evident in a chronic shortage of doctors in key areas like cancer care.

“For over a decade, doctors and other front-line healthcare staff have been neglected and gaslit and these strikes send a clear message to Streeting and this government; if you want a quality NHS — you will have to pay for it.” 

Figures released by the health service last week show that flu cases jumped by more than 55 per cent in a week.

NHS Providers chief executive Daniel Elkeles said that “the NHS needs all hands on deck” but the strike vote will mean “a very difficult Christmas for the health service.”