The impact of resident doctor strikes on the NHS in England will continue “into January and beyond”, experts have warned as health bosses called on the Government and the British Medical Association (BMA) to enter mediation to end the dispute.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting apologised to patients as doctors began a five-day walkout in England in an ongoing row over jobs and pay.
The Cabinet minister said the Government did “everything we could” to avoid the strike, including holding 11th-hour talks with BMA officials on Tuesday.
He said health officials are working to minimise the impact of the strike, but warned patients will face disruption as the walkout comes at the “worst time” for the NHS.
Hospitals are dealing with rising flu cases and other winter illnesses.
Dr Layla McCay, from the NHS Confederation, told Sky News: “What healthcare leaders are telling us is that the impact we will see from these particular strikes will affect particularly things like the waiting lists, and the disruption that is being caused this week will be felt all the way into January and beyond.”
Mr Streeting told the Health and Social Care Committee he is “just as, if not more, worried” about the weeks that follow the strike.
He added: “It is dicey… this is going to be a challenging five days and a really challenging few weeks, and we’re doing everything we can to keep the show on the road.”
He told MPs the current strike will cost around a quarter-of-a-billion pounds and the health service has “managed to absorb” the financial pressures of strikes so far.
Elsewhere, hospital leaders have called for resident doctors and the Government to start talks with external mediators, saying the dispute has reached an “impasse”.
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, told Times Radio: “What’s so frustrating is that this strike feels no closer to being resolved than it ever has been, and it’s getting more and more acrimonious as well.
Today 10,000s of doctors will go out on strike, as they're willing to stand up for their profession against a totally avoidable jobs and pay crisis.
— The BMA (@TheBMA) December 17, 2025
Resident doctors need jobs, and when they find those jobs, they need to be paid fairly for it.
Striking is a last resort, we… pic.twitter.com/x7nMfwMNpq
“We seem to have reached an impasse – it seems quite incredulous to us that the Government who put such a good offer on the table last week could have been met with such a resounding ballot from the doctors saying ‘we don’t agree’.
“It feels like we need to do something to unlock this, and if external mediation is the thing that will unlock it, then please, can we get on and do it?”
Conciliation service Acas said it is “well prepared and ready to help with the dispute”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Streeting told broadcasters: “We did everything we could to avert these strikes and to stop strike action from taking place.
“I think people can see that I’ve tried my absolute best to avoid these strikes on what is the worst time for the NHS.
“I’m really sorry to patients for the disruption that is happening as a result.”
He added: “Our entire focus now is on keeping patients safe, particularly over the next five days of strike action, but also through what is the peak period for the NHS.
“We are doing everything we can to minimise the disruption. There is going to be disruption.”
He said patients in need of healthcare should come forward as usual.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said at Prime Minister’s Questions: “Let me be clear about the strikes. They’re dangerous and utterly irresponsible. My message to resident doctors is, don’t abandon patients, work with us to improve conditions, and rebuild the NHS.”
The BMA has already granted some medics permission to leave the picket line and return to work in the maternity unit at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust due to “unique and difficult circumstances”.
Hospitals have been told to aim to deliver 95% of usual activity during the strike, though health leaders have conceded this could be “more challenging due to the onset of winter pressures and rising flu”.
Speaking from a picket line in London, Dr Jack Fletcher, chairman of the resident doctors committee at the BMA, told the Press Association: “I will sit down with the Health Secretary at any point to try and get a deal, I do not want to take industrial action, I do not take this lightly.”
BMA members rejected a new offer from the Government on Monday.
The deal includes a fast expansion of specialist training posts – which would be ratified through by emergency legislation, as well as covering out-of-pocket expenses such as exam fees, but does not include extra pay.
Mr Streeting told MPs he would continue with the legislative process but he “will want an end to the dispute” for the Bill to be passed.
It comes as resident doctors in Wales have voted to accept a new contract.
The union said that the contract reform includes “4% additional investment in the resident doctor workforce which continues doctors on the path to pay restoration alongside major reforms designed to improve training, wellbeing, and workforce sustainability”.
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