Fewer resident doctors thought to have gone on strike than in last year’s NHS stoppage

The British Medical Association will not comment on how many of its members joined the strike until it is over. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Thousands fewer resident doctors are thought to have joined picket lines on Friday during the first day of a five-day strike compared with last year’s mass turnout.

Although NHS England will only publish data on turnout and cancellations next week, hospital leaders are understood to have observed fewer resident doctors (previously known as junior doctors) on strike and less disruption to services than during the last round of industrial action, which ran from March 2023 until July 2024.