Resident doctors – formally known as Junior doctors – are striking from today, 7am Wednesday 17 December until 7am Monday 22 December says the BMA, The British Medical Association.
However, the NHS is urging patients not to put off coming forward for care.
Hospital teams across the country will be working harder than ever to ensure disruption is minimised for patients.
This comes at a challenging time for the health service, as it grapples with an early flu season and more people in hospital with flu at this time of year than ever before.
Despite the additional pressure on NHS teams, plans are in place to continue life-saving care, while keeping as much routine care and scheduled operations going as possible.
England’s most senior clinicians today urged the public to attend their appointments unless contacted otherwise, while issuing an “urgent plea” for people to get vaccinated in time to protect themselves over the New Year. As with previous strikes, appointments should only be rescheduled in the interests of patient safety.