Hospital doctors in England have commenced their longest consecutive strike in the 70-year history of Britain’s National Health Service.

Junior doctors below the consultant level are striking for six days in a major escalation of their long-running pay dispute with the United Kingdom government.

The industrial action comes at one of the busiest times of the year for the state-funded NHS, when it faces increased pressure from winter respiratory illnesses.

The NHS said the latest walkout, which could see up to half the medical workforce on picket lines, would have “a significant impact on almost all routine care.”

The British Medical Association announced the walkout in December after a breakdown in talks with the government. The union said junior doctors have been offered a 3 per cent rise on top of the average 8.8 per cent increase earlier this year.

It rejected the offer because the cash would be split unevenly across different doctor grades and “still amount to pay cuts for many doctors.”

UK Junior doctors have now gone on strike at least seven times since March.