Overview

• The British Medical Association’s resident doctors are set to walk out nationwide from July 25 to 30 after their demand for a 29% pay rise collided with the government’s refusal to go beyond a 28.9% increase
• Health Secretary Wes Streeting has ruled out additional headline pay increases and is reopening negotiations only on non-pay measures such as student debt relief, career progression and shift pattern reforms
• NHS England chief Sir Jim Mackey has ordered hospitals to maintain routine elective services during the strike, a move the BMA warns will stretch staffing too thin and jeopardise patient safety
• Senior consultants are cancelling elective clinics to cover striking colleagues and billing the NHS up to £313 per hour or £6,000 for a weekend on-call shift under the union’s premium rate card
• Public support for the strikes has plunged to around 26% in recent polling even as negotiators from both sides engage in last-ditch talks to avert what could be one of the most disruptive walkouts in NHS history