Dr Jack Fletcher

Who Dr Jack Fletcher is

Dr Jack Fletcher is the elected Chair of the British Medical Association's UK Resident Doctors Committee (UKRDC), a post he took up on 27 September 2025. He is a resident doctor working in acute medicine at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the North East of England, and he graduated from Newcastle University in 2020. The BMA is the registered trade union and professional association representing doctors across the UK, recognised by NHS employers as a national contract negotiator. Fletcher has been a prominent voice in the ongoing resident doctors' industrial dispute, arguing that government pay offers have fallen short of reversing real-terms pay erosion since 2008 and that a crisis of specialty training bottlenecks is driving doctor unemployment and emigration. He has led the committee through multiple rounds of strike action and negotiations with the Health Secretary, consistently calling for a pay settlement that is, in his words, credible, enforceable and sustainable for the health service.

References for this biography

1. 1.BMA resident doctors committee elects new chair – BMA media centre — Confirms Fletcher's election as UKRDC chair from 27 September 2025; establishes his role as a resident doctor in acute medicine in the North East
2. 2.England's resident doctors to strike for six days in November – Reuters via Yahoo News — Quotes Fletcher as RDC chair announcing November 2025 strike action and setting out the pay dispute
3. 3.BMA resident doctor industrial action, April 2026 – GOV.UK — Official government correspondence addressed to Dr Jack Fletcher as RDC chair, confirming his role in April 2026 negotiations
4. 4.BMA strike chief Dr Jack Fletcher's NHS software firm earns £20k from his own trust – Britbrief — Establishes Fletcher's employment at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, his 2020 Newcastle University graduation, and his co-founding of PayPulse Ltd
5. 5.BMA Resident Doctors (@BMAResidents) on X – introducing new RDC chair — Official BMA Residents account identifies @fletchjack as Dr Jack Fletcher's X account
6. 6.Resident doctors vote 'yes' to extend strike action mandate – The Doctor (BMA) — Quotes Fletcher on 2026 ballot result; establishes his argument on the twin crisis of pay and jobs
7. 7.Contact us – BMA — Confirms BMA head office address as BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JP and signposts press office route

Notable achievements

• Elected Chair of the BMA UK Resident Doctors Committee, taking up post 27 September 2025 Source ↗
• Led UKRDC through a further ballot for strike action in 2026, in which 93% of voting resident doctors backed industrial action Source ↗
• Addressed directly by the Health Secretary and Prime Minister in formal government correspondence during the April 2026 resident doctors' dispute Source ↗
• Co-founded PayPulse Ltd, a payroll-software start-up supplying NHS trusts, which won its first £20,000 contract with South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; stepped back from commercial role on becoming RDC chair Source ↗

What Dr Jack Fletcher has said

• “This is not where we wanted to be. Better employment prospects and restoring pay are a credible way forward that would work for doctors, work for [the] government and work for our patients.”

  Chair of the BMA's resident doctors' committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors in England to go on strike for five days next month ↗

• “This does not go far enough. Even with this offer, thousands of doctors would still be unable to find a job. Thirty thousand doctors applied for 10,000 [training] places this year – [so] 1,000 more is not going to fix this crisis, nor come anywhere near doing so.”

  chair of the BMA resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors’ strike to go ahead after Wes Streeting’s last-ditch offer is rejected ↗

• “The BMA's ruling council has already approved a request from Dr Jack Fletcher, the RDC's chair, for it to reballot its 60,000 resident members when its current mandate expires on 6 January.”

  Chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Hospital consultants gearing up to join resident doctors in striking over pay ↗

• “With the government failing to put forward a credible plan to fix the jobs crisis for resident doctors at the same time as pushing a real-terms pay cut for them, we have no choice but to announce more strike dates.”

  chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors in England to go on strike in run-up to Christmas ↗

• “This offer is the result of thousands of resident doctors showing that they are prepared to stand up for their profession and their future. It should not have taken strike action but make no mistake: it was strike action that got us this far.”

  chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Wes Streeting improves offer to resident doctors in England in attempt to stop strikes ↗

• “We're putting this offer neutrally and factually to members. There are some parts of this offer that contain things like important legislation, some way of fixing this jobs crisis, but let's be clear, there are no more doctors at the end of this.”

  Chair of the BMA · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Starmer says resident doctors would be irresponsible to strike in face of flu crisis ↗

• “Ministers were 'laying the blame for the failings of the NHS to cope with an outbreak of flu at the feet of resident doctors'”

  Chair of the BMA resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · ‘Beyond belief’ that resident doctors could strike amid flu crisis, says Starmer ↗

• “Our members have considered the government's offer, and their resounding response should leave the health secretary in no doubt about how badly he has just fumbled his opportunity to end industrial action. Tens of thousands of frontline doctors have come together to say 'no' to what is clearly too little, too late.”

  Chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors in England vote to go ahead with strike ↗

• “Resident doctors in England have voted overwhelmingly to go ahead with this week's planned strike, because the government's latest offer fails to address the medical jobs crisis and does nothing to stem the exodus of medics from this country.”

  Chair of the British Medical Association's UK resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Why did doctors reject Wes Streeting’s offer? It still fails to treat us with respect | Jack Fletcher ↗

• “The government's offer, made last Wednesday, involved simply 'repurposing' existing 'locally employed doctors' and amounted to 'just shuffling the deck chairs on a sinking ship'.”

  Chair of the BMA resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Officials fear NHS will be hit hard after resident doctors reject latest offer ↗

• “If the government keeps up the pattern of denial, harsh words and rushed half-measures, then we are going to be stuck in the cycle of strikes well into the new year.”

  Chair of the resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Wes Streeting and resident doctors urged to agree to mediation to end strikes ↗

• “doctors going out on strike were "making clear that they are willing to stand up for their profession against a totally avoidable jobs crisis"”

  Chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors in England begin five days of strike action ↗

• “Neither I, nor any of the resident doctor negotiating team, have spoken to Acas. We are aware of mediation services like Acas but at this stage we do not believe mediation is a route we need to consider.”

  chair of the BMA resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Acas offers to help break deadlock in resident doctors’ strike ↗

• “This year, it is estimated that nearly 40,000 doctors will apply for about 10,000 specialty training places which the BMA's Jack Fletcher warns is causing many doctors to leave the NHS altogether.”

  chair of the BMA resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Thursday briefing: How pay erosion and job shortages pushed doctors to strike again amid winter flu surge ↗

• “What we need is a proper fix to this jobs crisis and a credible path towards restoring the lost value of the profession. That must mean the creation of genuinely new jobs, and it could involve a responsible multi-year approach to restoring doctors' pay.”

  chair of the resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors say they will resume talks to avoid further strikes with ‘can-do spirit’ ↗

• “Ministers cannot be shocked that 93% of doctors have voted to strike after being recommended a pay cut this year by the same health secretary who promised a journey to fair pay. And without thousands more training posts, the bottlenecks in medical training are going to continue to rob brilliant young doctors of their careers.”

  Chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors in England vote to continue industrial action for another six months ↗

• “When the government began to shift the goalposts two weeks ago”

  Chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee (RDC) · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors in England to begin six-day strike after rejecting offer in pay dispute ↗

• “it was 'misleading' of Streeting to claim that resident doctors had seen their pay rise by 35% over the last four years – that was 'wildly overstating the case' – because inflation over that period had eroded the value of the rise.”

  RDC's chair · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · NHS bosses say resident doctors’ strike will cause ‘maximum harm’ ↗

• “We've been willing and have been talking constructively for the last two months and at the very last minute the government has shifted the goalposts of the pay offer.”

  Chair of the BMA's UK resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Keir Starmer gives resident doctors 48 hours to call off strike or lose training offer ↗

• “The political rhetoric – threatening to remove training places – coupled with the way the government has communicated the offer, has needlessly and avoidably inflamed the dispute, ultimately pushing the chance of a deal further away. A final offer followed by threats that parts of the offer may be withdrawn is not the way to end this dispute.”

  Chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors accuse Keir Starmer of sabotaging talks to end pay and jobs dispute ↗

• “The health secretary may well be 'disappointed' but he is failing to acknowledge a deal was taking shape until his government quietly watered it down, reducing the money on the table, then stretching what was left over too many years to make it worthwhile.”

  chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · NHS urges patients not to put off care as doctors in England prepare for strike ↗

• “My colleagues and I have spent months in the negotiating room, and a deal was taking shape, yet at the last minute the government quietly watered it down, reducing the money on the table, then stretching what was left over too many years to make it worthwhile.”

  BMA resident doctors committee chair · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors’ strike has torpedoed pay rises and training posts, says Wes Streeting ↗

• “peace talks had been 'making good progress right up until the point, in the last two weeks, when the government began to shift the goalposts'.”

  chair of the union's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Doctors’ strike timed to cause havoc over Easter break, says NHS England chief ↗

• “Then right at the last minute they not only reduced the amount of total investment … they reduced and stretched it … [and said:] 'Sorry, it has to be [over] three years.' Something happened. That's what triggered industrial action.”

  Chair of the British Medical Association's resident doctors' committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Doctors’ leader claims new reduced pay offer killed chances of ending strikes in England ↗

• “We had hoped that a change in leadership at the Department of Health and Social Care [DHSC] would lead to a change in approach. Sadly, we have run up against the same unwillingness to move we encountered under Mr Streeting.”

  Chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors in England to stage four-day strike in June ↗

• “Resident doctors have spoken. They have decided that the current offer is sufficient to continue on the road to pay restoration, and sufficient to address the absurd lack of jobs in the NHS. The strikes will now end.”

  Chair of the BMA's resident doctors committee · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Resident doctors in England accept government offer on pay and jobs ↗

Recent social activity

• We have achieved so much in the last 12 months for residents... ✅ Pay ✅ Jobs ✅ Exams ✅ Permanent LED contracts ✅ Portfolio fees (Apr 27) ✅ LTFT progression changes ✅ National T&Cs for LEDs ✅ Academic FPP ✅ GPR FPP ✅ Emergency legislation Time to tag in the 26/27 team! https://t.co/ArFNgj5YQw

  x.com ↗

• Exam fees for resident doctors in England are about to become a thing of the past. That means several thousand pounds worth of compulsory exams will now be funded. We said we would hold the Govt’s feet to the fire, and we’re doing just that. Read more👇 https://t.co/cEYge25xK6

  x.com ↗

Where Dr Jack Fletcher has been quoted

1. Cheltenham A&E to remain open as doctors' strike called offbbc.com · 30 Sept 2026
2. Resident doctors in England to go on strike for five days next monththeguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
3. Resident doctors’ strike to go ahead after Wes Streeting’s last-ditch offer is rejectedtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
4. Hospital consultants gearing up to join resident doctors in striking over paytheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
5. Resident doctors in England to go on strike in run-up to Christmastheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
6. Wes Streeting improves offer to resident doctors in England in attempt to stop strikestheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
7. Starmer says resident doctors would be irresponsible to strike in face of flu crisistheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
8. ‘Beyond belief’ that resident doctors could strike amid flu crisis, says Starmertheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
9. Resident doctors in England vote to go ahead with striketheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
10. Why did doctors reject Wes Streeting’s offer? It still fails to treat us with respect | Jack Fletchertheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
11. Officials fear NHS will be hit hard after resident doctors reject latest offertheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
12. Wes Streeting and resident doctors urged to agree to mediation to end strikestheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
13. Resident doctors in England begin five days of strike actiontheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
14. Acas offers to help break deadlock in resident doctors’ striketheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
15. Thursday briefing: How pay erosion and job shortages pushed doctors to strike again amid winter flu surgetheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
16. Resident doctors say they will resume talks to avoid further strikes with ‘can-do spirit’theguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
17. Resident doctors in England vote to continue industrial action for another six monthstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
18. Resident doctors in England to begin six-day strike after rejecting offer in pay disputetheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
19. NHS bosses say resident doctors’ strike will cause ‘maximum harm’theguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
20. Keir Starmer gives resident doctors 48 hours to call off strike or lose training offertheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
21. Resident doctors accuse Keir Starmer of sabotaging talks to end pay and jobs disputetheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
22. NHS urges patients not to put off care as doctors in England prepare for striketheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
23. Resident doctors’ strike has torpedoed pay rises and training posts, says Wes Streetingtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
24. Doctors’ strike timed to cause havoc over Easter break, says NHS England chieftheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
25. Doctors’ leader claims new reduced pay offer killed chances of ending strikes in Englandtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
26. Resident doctors in England to stage four-day strike in Junetheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
27. Resident doctors in England accept government offer on pay and jobstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

• Patients claim they were left in ‘agony’ and ‘begging’ for medication at NGHNorthampton Chronicle and Echo
• Jogger crushed under coach thanks paramedics who saved his lifeBBC
• Ambulance response times for critical cases falling short, says Dr DzulThe Star

Contact & links

• Xhttps://x.com/fletchjackpublished here ↗
• Staff pagehttps://www.bma.org.uk/what-we-do/committees/resident-doctors-committee/uk-resident-doctors-committee-overview
• Press office emailhttps://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centrepublished here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.