Ministers say junior doctors have already received a final settlement and there will be no more talks.
Junior doctors have announced they will take further strike action in August.
Their ask is to restore pay to 2008 levels after a series of below-inflation pay rises – which equates to around a 35% pay rise.
It will be the fifth time junior doctors have joined the picket lines this year and with the union seeking to extend their mandate, it could go on for the foreseeable future.
The four-day walkout will take place between 0700 on Friday 11th August and 0700 on Tuesday 15th August.
According to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), junior doctors have already received an average of an 8.8% pay uplift – 3.3% more than their nursing counterparts.
Ministers have said that is the final settlement and there will be no more talks.
Act like a responsible government.
JDC co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “It should never have got to the point where we needed to announce a fifth round of strike action.
“Our message today remains the same: act like a responsible government, come to the table to negotiate with us in good faith, and with a credible offer these strikes need not go ahead at all.
They continue, “The Prime Minister has told us that talks are over. But it is not for Rishi Sunak to decide that negotiations are over before he has even stepped in the room.
“This dispute will end only at the negotiating table. If the PM was hoping to demoralise and divide our profession with his actions, he will be disappointed.
“Junior doctors are not going anywhere however much Government might wish we would. The facts have not changed: we have lost more than a quarter of our pay in fifteen years and we are here to get it back.”
