Junior doctors across England will stop work for five days from 15 to 19 June 2026. This is the latest strike in a long dispute that started back in 2023.

The union representing resident doctors — young doctors still in training — called previous strikes in November 2025, December 2025, and April 2026. In September 2024, the government offered them a pay rise of 22.3% spread over two years, and about two-thirds of the doctors voted to accept it. Many hoped that would end the dispute. It did not.

What Happened Before

Between July 2023 and February 2024, the strikes cancelled or postponed around 507,000 hospital appointments and operations. The government used this figure to justify the 2024 pay deal as a solution.

But by December 2025, less than a year later, the doctors' union was balloting members again about more industrial action. The government made another pay offer in December. Then, ahead of an expected April 2026 strike, it made a third offer — which the doctors rejected. The government said this final offer would not be improved, but the doctors called another strike anyway. The June action now confirmed came after the government presented yet another offer.

Why keep striking after the 2024 deal? The evidence suggests the two sides disagree on how much junior doctors should be paid and what their working conditions should be. Individual offers have not closed that gap.

Different Rules in Different Parts of the UK

Health is not run the same way everywhere. In Scotland, it is controlled by the Scottish Government. There, resident doctors suspended their planned strikes in January 2026 after getting a new pay offer and promises about working conditions. The dispute there appears settled for now.

In Northern Ireland, health is also controlled locally — by the Northern Ireland Executive. In early June 2026, the doctors' union publicly appealed to the health minister to make a credible pay offer to prevent strikes. This suggests talks in Northern Ireland have not yet reached the same point as Scotland.

Wales also has its own health system, controlled by Welsh politicians. The data available does not show the position there.

The Pressure on Hospitals

NHS England hospitals are already struggling to catch up with long waiting lists. The five-day strike in June will cancel more operations and appointments when hospitals are trying to clear the backlog.

For hospital managers, this is a familiar challenge: they know strikes are coming and have to plan around them. The government's advice from May 2026 sets out how hospitals should prepare.

But this situation points to something larger. Three strikes in eight months, despite a deal meant to solve the problem, suggests the disagreement about pay runs deeper than one offer can fix. The doctors' union showed it was willing to ballot again very quickly after accepting the 2024 settlement. When they rejected the April 2026 offer that the government said would not be improved, that sent a signal: both sides think fair pay looks quite different.

If Northern Ireland's health minister does not make a credible offer soon, that could become another serious problem for the NHS outside England just as the June strikes wrap up. Scotland shows that the right offer can end these disputes; whether the other parts of the UK can or will do the same is still an open question.