Senior hospital doctors in England plan to strike for two days in November, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said. Consultants will walk out on 25 and 26 November, with only emergency cover provided, in a dispute over pay and working conditions. The action is due to begin at 6.59am on 25 November, and hospitals are expected to run staffing arrangements similar to those used on Christmas Day.

The BMA said more than three-quarters of consultants who took part in its ballot voted in favour of strike action. The Times reported the figure as 76%, following a ballot held in July. Consultants last struck in England in 2023. The doctors were given a 3.5% pay increase this year, but the union argues that pay has fallen by about a quarter in real terms over the past 17 years.

Government response and what could avert the strike

The BMA said the strike could be avoided if Health Secretary Yvette Cooper committed to formal negotiations on pay and working conditions. Its consultants committee co-chairs, Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, said consultants provide frontline care and are central to running services, training future doctors and supervising the workforce. They said the government was failing to recognise concerns around wellbeing and workload, and was telling consultants they deserved another pay cut as progress on waiting lists stalls.

Cooper described the announcement as very disappointing. She said the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England had been in constructive discussions with the BMA, and that striking as the NHS prepares for winter would be irresponsible. Formal negotiations are therefore the stated route to calling the strike off.