Senior doctors set for two-day strike in dispute over pay and pensions

Senior doctors in England plan to go on strike for two days in November, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said. Consultants are due to take industrial action on November 25 and 26 following a continuing dispute with the Government over pay and pressures facing senior NHS staff. Emergency care will continue to be provided during the walkouts. The announcement comes after consultants voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking industrial action earlier this year, with 76 per cent of those participating in a BMA ballot supporting strikes. The union has been in discussions with the Government in recent weeks but says insufficient progress has been made to prevent it setting dates for industrial action.

It will be the first strike involving consultants in England since 2023, when senior doctors staged a series of walkouts between July and October. Some of that action took place alongside resident doctors, then known as junior doctors.

Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, co-chairs of the BMA consultants committee, said senior doctors played a crucial role not only in treating patients but in overseeing NHS services and training the future medical workforce.

They said: “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.”

The BMA says consultants have seen their pay fall by around a quarter in real terms compared with 17 years ago and has also raised concerns about increasing workloads and burnout.

Dr Neary and Dr Datta said the union had spent more than 18 months attempting to resolve its dispute with ministers and had put forward proposals during negotiations.

They added: “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.”

However, the union said there was still time for the action to be called off if an agreement can be reached.