NHS consultants to go on two-day strike in England in November, says BMA

Industrial action by senior doctors to begin on 25 November, with only emergency cover provided, union says

Senior doctors in England plan to go on strike for two days in November, the British Medical Association has said.

The industrial action by consultants is to begin at 6.59am on 25 November, with only emergency cover to be provided.

More than three-quarters of consultants who took part in the BMA ballot voted in favour of strike action. The strike could be avoided if Yvette Cooper, the health secretary, committed to formal negotiations on pay and working conditions, the BMA said. The doctors were given a 3.5% pay increase this year.

Consultants in England last went on strike in 2023 but have been in dispute with the government since last year. Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, co-chairs of the BMA’s consultants committee, said: “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.

“And as the much-lauded progress on waiting lists in England stalls, the government is also telling consultants they deserve another pay cut.

“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.

“Not only is our pay still a quarter down in real terms on what it was 17 years ago, having fallen more steeply than the rest of the economy, but we are also not being given time to dedicate our all to the NHS and patients, with quality and improvement being traded for the treadmill of target-chasing, driving colleagues to burnout through excessive workloads.

“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.”