Resident doctors hold banners as they stand on the picket line near St Thomas' Hospital in London, England, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, as resident doctors begin another five-day walkout. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)Resident doctors in England are set to walk out for four days next month in what will be the 16th strike in a pay and jobs dispute that has now stretched over three years. The British Medical Association announced the action will run from 7am on Monday June 15 to 6.59am on Friday June 19. The union also warned that a further stoppage in July is possible unless progress is made before then.According to a report by The Guardian, the 96-hour strike will force NHS hospitals to rearrange tens of thousands of appointments, diagnostic tests and operations across England.New health secretary draws fire from doctorsThe BMA has directed much of its frustration at James Murray who took over as health secretary on May 14 replacing Wes Streeting. Doctors had hoped the change in leadership would bring a shift in approach but said they were met with the same position they had faced under his predecessor.Murray met BMA representatives on Wednesday and afterwards said the union's demands were "unrealistic, unaffordable, and unsustainable." He said resident doctors had already received a 33.4% pay rise over the past four years which he described as the highest anywhere across the public sector. He said the BMA's push for further substantial increases this year had no justification and that further strike action would cost the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds while putting pressure on other staff.What the BMA is asking forThe BMA wants England's 75,000 resident doctors to receive a pay increase that restores what the union says is a 26% loss in the real-terms value of their salaries since 2008-09. The union also wants the NHS to significantly expand the number of training places available so that resident doctors can progress into specialist careers. The BMA represents around 55,000 of those 75,000 doctors.Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee, said the union had given Murray time to settle into the role and had expected him to build on the work left unfinished by Streeting. He said the response from the new health secretary amounted to the same position the doctors had been hearing for months: no new money on pay and no firm commitments on jobs. Fletcher said the union could not be asked to negotiate in good faith only to be told there was nothing left to discuss.