Consultants in England will strike next month, with senior doctors warning that the Government had ‘run out of road’ in negotiations over improving working conditions and pay.
The BMA consultants committee confirmed today that a 48-hour walkout would take place between 25 and 27 November, unless the health secretary Yvette Cooper took meaningful steps to avoid action.
The strikes, which would be the first-time consultants in England have taken industrial action since 2023, would see consultants providing only Christmas Day level care across the two-day-period.
The announcement of fresh strike dates comes just days after it was revealed that the Government was recommending a sub-inflationary pay rise of just 2.4 per cent for all doctors in 2027/28 to the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration.
Consultants in England have been in dispute with the Government since May 2025, with members delivering a mandate for strike action following a ballot in July this year.
Good faith
In its discussions with the Government, the BMA is demanding commitments to meaningful and fully funded measures aimed at resolving doctors’ concerns over working conditions and pay restoration.
Despite these efforts, consultants committee co-chairs Helen Neary and Shanu Datta said that ministers had failed to demonstrate that such concerns were being taken seriously, leaving no option but to call for strike action.
They said: ‘Since we entered into dispute over 18 months ago we have engaged in good faith with the Government, proposing practical solutions, but time-and-time again ministers have kicked the can down the road. Unfortunately, that road has now run out, and we have been forced to announce strikes.
‘Consultants take their responsibilities incredibly seriously, and striking does not come naturally, but we are hearing loud and clear from the profession that they have had enough.
‘As the most senior and skilled doctors in the NHS, consultants not only provide frontline, life-saving care, but they are central to running and designing services, training and supervising the future workforce and ensuring patients get the best treatment possible. Solving the pressures facing the health service will be impossible without valuing and retaining these doctors. Yet the Government is failing to recognise this, ignoring our concerns around consultants’ wellbeing and workload, and pushing them further away from the NHS.’
Awaiting response
They added: ‘The Government has four weeks to avoid any action taking place. We look forward to hearing from the Secretary of State on areas that we can work on together to prevent these strikes, end the dispute and restore the role of the consultant in the NHS so that patients can benefit from the best clinical leaders long into the future.’
In addition to England, balloting of consultants and SAS doctors in Scotland over working conditions and pay launches today.
Meanwhile strike action is planned for both consultants, specialist, associate specialist and specialty doctors and for resident doctors in Northern Ireland, between 23 and 24 November and 20 to 21 November respectively.
The strike action for consultants in England will take place between 06:59 on 25 November and 06:59 on 27 November.