Health leaders have issued instructions to the public as to how they should interact with the NHS during the five-day strike.

Resident doctors go on strike across England from 7am on Friday for five days. The knock-on impact on patients is they will be forced to wait longer for care, and many may no longer be able to work without the treatment they need, they said.

Plans are in place to continue life-saving care as normal, while hospital chiefs have been told to keep routine operations going as much as possible – with 95% of elective activity aiming to go ahead with appointments only rescheduled in exceptional circumstances in the interests of patient safety.

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Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS England National Medical Director, said: “The public should continue to come forward for their appointments over the next few days unless they are contacted by the NHS and told otherwise.

“Inevitably some appointments won’t be able to go ahead as planned but we are doing everything possible to keep this to a minimum – and the last round of industrial action showed that, thanks to a strong collective effort, we were able to keep the vast majority of services going for patients. In an emergency the public should still dial 999, and otherwise use 111 online, your local pharmacist or GP.”

Tomorrow’s strike is resident doctors’ 13th walkout since March 2023. The last strike in July was estimated to have cost the health service £300 million.

Earlier this year, a YouGov poll also found that 48% of Britons oppose resident doctors going on strike, while 39% support them taking action. YouGov said this 'marks a shift in opinion' of public support of striking junior doctors last summer, when the majority of Britons - 52% - said they supported the action.

Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which represents older people, said: "Silver Voices supported the earlier resident doctors' strikes but they have now gone too far and are damaging both the interests of patients and the prospects of other more lowly paid NHS staff receiving deserved pay rises.

“Older people having their crucial operations and tests cancelled yet again, and who are also struggling with the cost of living, are unlikely to be sympathetic to a group who had a 28% increase in pay last year. We would all like to get back to 2008 when the NHS was the best health service in the world, but the resident doctors need to wake up to the hard reality of 2025.

“The BMA needs to get back into discussions with the Health Secretary and find a way to get themselves off the selfish hook they have made for themselves".

The BMA points to pay erosion since 2008 saying real terms salaries are down a fifth since then, according to the Retail Price Index measure of inflation.

On the eve of the strike action the Patients Association released a statement on the “agony” for those “having their appointments cancelled at short notice”

They highlighted an example resident doctors’ last strike when one patient, who had been told they needed a procedure on their eye within eight weeks or they could go blind, had it cancelled at short notice

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “Imagine being that patient, imagine the fear of not knowing whether you’ll go blind in one eye because of a resident doctors’ strike.

“The BMA has rejected the government's latest offer. While we understand that resident doctors feel their concerns have not been adequately addressed, we must be clear: choosing to strike for five days at this critical moment will cause immense harm to many patients.

“Emergency care pathways may be protected, but elective procedures - many of them urgent for patients - will be cancelled once again, adding months more delay to already unacceptable waiting times.

“We call on the BMA to reconsider this action and return to negotiations. We call on the government to commence immediate independent arbitration to break this deadlock. Without it, patients will suffer the consequence of a dispute that is not of patients' making. Behind every statistic is a person - a friend, a family member - whose life could be hanging in the balance. Patients deserve better.”

NHS Confederation and NHS Providers said that if the NHS continues to have to foot the bill from strikes, it could lead to staff being cut and fewer tests, appointments and operations being carried out.

Resident doctors, previously called junior doctors, make up around half of all doctors in the NHS.

During their first foundation year after finishing their medical degree, resident doctors in England earn a basic salary of £38,831. In their second year, this rises to £44,439.

Medics are often expected to work night shifts, weekends and longer hours for extra payments.

The Government’s preferred measure of inflation is the Consumer Price Index - which excludes mortgage and permanent housing costs - shows average resident doctor salaries down 5% since 2008.

Mr Streeting has pointed out that by any measure their pay has been increasing in real terms in recent years, including their latest 5.4% deal for 2025/26.