Our aims

Following the DDRB recommendation of a 3.5% pay uplift the Northern Ireland consultants committee elected to ballot members on industrial action. We have now secured a successful mandate and therefore have called a strike on 25 June 2026.

On the strike day we call on consultants not to attend work with the exception of those providing ‘Christmas Day’ cover. The strike will start at 7.00am on 25 June 2026 and end at 06.59am on 26 June 2026.

The form of consultant industrial action

The action we are taking will be Christmas Day levels of cover on the strike day. This level of cover would ensure that urgent and emergency care would continue to be provided. 

What is meant by Christmas day service?

• The BMA has committed to ensure that emergency services remain operational with staffing levels in line with the levels in place on Christmas Day. The BMA signalled an early intention to strike 6 weeks ahead of the strike dates so that Trusts can plan their patient lists. This was to allow those patients with urgent, time sensitive conditions (e.g. cancer patients) to be managed on alternative days with minimum disruption to their treatment pathways.
• The BMA’s definition of a Christmas Day level of care is an emergency care only level of service, equivalent to CEPOD 1 / life or limb emergency care. As a starting point we suggest that Trusts and departments review what consultant and SAS staffing was in place on Christmas Day in 2025, and utilise this as a template to determine staffing requirements for the period of consultant and SAS action. In most cases, this would be an “on-call” consultant model with SAS support. Patient safety is maintained on Christmas Day and this model of action is designed to ensure that patients who need emergency care during this time are able to access it in a timely fashion, while allowing consultants and SAS doctors to take the lawful industrial action that they voted for.