Doctors in England start a 5-day strike over pay. The government says it will hurt patients

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of doctors in England’s state-funded health system walked off the job Friday in a five-day strike over pay that the government says will disrupt care for patients across the country.

Resident doctors, those early in their careers who form the backbone of hospital and clinic care, took to picket lines outside hospitals after talks with the government broke down.

The National Health Service said emergency departments would be open and hospitals and clinics would try to carry out as many scheduled appointments as possible.

The doctors are seeking a pay raise to make up for what their union, the British Medical Association, says is a 20% real-terms pay cut since 2008.

“When doctors decide to take strike action it’s always portrayed as though we’re being selfish, but we’re here as a body to help the public day in, day out, to work hours that don’t even end sometimes," said Kelly Johnson, a doctor on the picket line outside St. Thomas’ Hospital in central London,

“Here we are just trying to get what’s right for us so we can do our best to serve the public.”

The government says doctors have received an average 28.9% increase as part of a deal to settle previous strikes and it will not offer more, but is willing to discuss improved working conditions.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged the doctors to go back to work.

“Most people do not support these strikes. They know they will cause real damage,” he wrote in The Times newspaper.

“Behind the headlines are the patients whose lives will be blighted by this decision. The frustration and disappointment of necessary treatment delayed. And worse, late diagnoses and care that risks their long-term health," Starmer wrote.

Health sector staff staged a series of rolling strikes over more than a year in 2023-24, seeking pay rises to offset the rising cost of living. The strikes forced tens of thousands of appointments and procedures to be postponed.

The strikes hit efforts by the National Health Service to dig out of an appointment backlog that ballooned after the COVID-19 pandemic and led to longer waiting times to see a doctor.

The strikes stopped after the Labour government elected in July 2024 gave doctors a raise, but the union held a new strike vote last month.

NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)

NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)

Britain's Health Secretary Wes Streeting, center, listens during a visit to NHS National Operations Centre to see how they manage industrial action, in London, Friday, July 25, 2025. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)

NHS resident doctors and supporters stand outside St Thomas' Hospital as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the Government collapsed over pay, in London, Friday, July 25, 2025. (James Manning/PA via AP)

NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)

NHS resident doctors hold placards outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, as resident doctors in England, formerly referred to as junior doctors, begin a five-day strike after talks with the government collapsed over pay, Friday, July 25, 2025. ( James Manning/PA via AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Yaxzodara Lozada woke up Monday freezing after sleeping on the sidewalk outside a prison in Venezuela’s capital, hoping her husband, a police officer who was detained on Nov. 17, will walk free as part of a goodwill effort the government announced last week.

While Venezuelan commerce and daily life have begun to resume — with malls, schools and gyms reopening a week after a stunning U.S. attack led to the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro — the promised release of imprisoned opposition figures, civil society leaders and journalists has materialized only in a trickle, prompting criticism.

Relatives of many of the more than 800 people that human rights organizations say are imprisoned in Venezuela for political reasons began gathering outside prisons Thursday, when the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez pledged to free a significant number of prisoners in what it described as a gesture to “seek peace.” Officials have not identified or given a number of prisoners being considered for release, leaving rights groups scouring for hints of information and families to wait anxiously.

As of Monday afternoon, the Venezuelan advocacy group Foro Penal had verified the release of 49 prisoners. Among those confirmed freed were several foreign nationals holding Italian, Spanish, Argentine, Israeli and Colombian citizenship.

Also on Monday, the White House confirmed that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday.

Over the weekend, Trump said the releases came at Washington’s request.

“Venezuela has started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners,” Trump wrote Saturday on his Truth Social platform.

Others criticized the government for not fulfilling its promise of releasing a significant number of people.

On Monday, the U.N.-backed fact-finding mission on Venezuela welcomed the release of prisoners, but said in a statement that the amount of people released in recent days “falls far short” of the wider demand for the “immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.”

Lozada said she had not seen her husband since he was detained on Nov. 17 — an arrest for which she says no reason was ever given.

Next to her, relatives of other detainees stretched and looked for water after spending the night on the ground, using old couch cushions and pieces of foam. In front of them, cars kept going by to drop off students at a school adjacent to the prison.

“These are two realities. They want the world to see that everything is normal, that nothing happened here,” said Jenny Quiroz, whose husband was detained Nov. 26 at his pharmacy in Caracas for allegedly criticizing the government in a WhatsApp group. “But it’s a mixture of anguish, despair…. You know what it’s like to have 48 days without knowing if he eats, if they have him isolated, if they are psychologically or physically torturing him?”

Quiroz said she wanted Trump to know that the information he is receiving regarding prison releases “is not 100% true.”

As relatives awaited news of their loved ones at prisons, the government deployed security forces to public schools around the country for the first day of classes since the holiday break. Uniformed students walked the streets of Caracas some alone and others accompanied by adults.

The Venezuelan government has tried to push forward a message of normalcy after the U.S. military operation that rocked the nation.

During a school tour broadcast on state television, acting President Rodríguez — surrounded by children — railed against the Trump administration while simultaneously striking an optimistic tone about the country’s future. She said her country is “actively resisting” the U.S. while “we’re writing a new page in Venezuelan history."

While teachers braced for questions from students about the Jan. 3 attack, preschool teacher Ángela Ramírez said the topic did not come up in her classroom.

“I didn’t address it because I didn’t notice the interest and a need in them to know what’s going on,” she said. “They are happy to be back at school."

Associated Press writer Megan Janetsky contributed from Mexico City.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

A photo of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison a month after being arrested on accusations of treason, and his family adorns his coffin during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Emelyn Torres and Maria Cristina Fernandez, the sister and grandmother of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison after being detained on accusations of treason, embrace during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Flor Zambrano, whose son, Rene Chourio, she says is detained at Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police for political reasons, embraces relatives of other detainees outside the facility in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A man sits on steps decorated with a mural representing the eyes of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Children return to school after the holiday break in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Flor Zambrano, whose son, Rene Chourio, she says is detained at Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police for political reasons, embraces relatives of other detainees outside the facility in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Relatives of political detainees wait outside Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police after spending the night there in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Relatives wait outside Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police, where political detainees are held, after spending the night there in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)