Doctors in England go on strike for 14th time

The five-day stoppage by resident doctors -- those below consultant level -- comes as negotiations reached a deadlock over the medics' demand for a 26 percent pay rise to compensate for what they say is a real-time loss of earnings due to inflation.

Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has branded the industrial action "irresponsible" at a time when the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) is struggling to handle a "super flu" outbreak.

The pay demand comes on top of a 28.9 percent increase already secured over three years after previous strikes.

Laura Harmer, who was picketing outside St Thomas' Hospital in London, told AFP "the government is definitely trying to demonise junior doctors".

"They're calling us things like 'moaning minnies', 'juvenile delinquents'. I think they really want to push the blame onto us, when in reality we're working in these conditions that aren't acceptable for the pay that we're getting."

Doctor Shivam Sharma, 25, said the National Health Service needed more doctors.

"We know that we're about 40,000 doctors short compared to the EU average. And that means doctors are having to do the job of multiple doctors," he said outside St Thomas' Hospital.

But health minister Wes Streeting said that in the current economic government it was impossible to meet the demands of the British Medical Association (BMA), which represents the doctors.

"There are such a wide range of pressures on the public purse at the moment, on everything from the defence of the nation to crumbling public infrastructure," he said.

"That is the context in which I've asked resident doctors ... to understand that as a government we're going as hard and as fast as we can to improve pay, terms and conditions and quality of services."

Streeting has already agreed to the doctors' union's demand that UK-trained medics get priority for training posts over candidates from overseas.