BMA balloting hospital consultants over strike action

Hospital consultants in England are to vote on whether to take strike action as part of an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.

The British Medical Association (BMA) is balloting consultants and specialty, associate specialist, and specialist (SAS) doctors to ask if they are willing to take industrial action, with the vote closing on 6 July.

The union confirmed that if the majority vote for industrial action, then it risks all doctors working in secondary care in England having a mandate to strike at the same time – with resident doctors having a mandate for industrial action until August.

The BMA said its consultants committee believes consultants need more protected time to focus on innovation, teaching and improving services for patients; a reduction in standard hours; and better recognition for the most demanding out of hours work to reduce burnout and improve retention.

Its SAS committee is calling for improvements to career progression and opportunities as well as pushing to reform how these doctors are recognised and compensated for their time, and to improve annual leave entitlements.

The union said both groups have seen their pay fall by around a quarter since 2008/09, the recent 3.5% pay award has not gone far enough to reverse this drop, and that talks with government had been ‘too slow to progress’.

BMA consultants committee co-chairs Dr Shanu Datta and Dr Helen Neary said that industrial action was a ‘last resort’, but they had been left with ‘no choice’.

They added: ‘Industrial action is a last resort, but in the face of a government that seems intent on making the role of a consultant even more demanding with no associated recognition, we are left with no choice but to show ministers that we are prepared to stand up for one another, our professionalism and our patients.’

Dr Datta and Dr Neary also said that the failure to value consultant’s expertise, and support and protect them from the demands of the job risked them leaving the profession.

‘Left unaddressed, the impact of this is early retirement, quiet quitting, and consultants leaving the profession in the UK and entirely resulting in doctor shortages and even worse wait times for care,’ they added.

BMA SAS committee chair Dr Ujjwala Mohite said: ‘We hope that industrial action won’t be necessary, but SAS doctors must be prepared to stand together to show their value to a government that won’t recognise it.’

Health secretary Wes Streeting announced in March that government had accepted the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) recommended 3.5% pay uplift for 2026/27, affecting GPs, consultants, SAS doctors and resident doctors.

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said: ‘Consultants and SAS doctors are highly skilled and much valued NHS staff, who have repeatedly stepped in over recent months to maintain high quality patient care during resident doctor strikes.

‘As some of the best paid workers in the country, consultants and SAS doctors have seen their starting basic pay go up by around 28.5% over the last four years.

‘We want to continue to work with senior doctors to improve their working lives. We urge consultant and SAS doctors to see the BMA’s unreasonable and unnecessary bid for industrial action as the distraction it is from our shared endeavour of rebuilding our NHS and making it fit for the future.’

The DHSC also said that the BMA’s calls for further large pay increases for already highly paid members of staff are neither reasonable nor realistic, and pointed to latest data from the NHS Staff Survey, which showed burnout has declined year-on-year from 34% in 2022 to 28% in 2025.

But the survey, published in March, also found that 35% of health service staff found their work emotionally exhausting and 42% of staff have felt unwell because of work-related stress in the last 12 months.

GPs in England are also currently in dispute with the Government over the imposed 2026/27 GP contract, with collective action having commenced this month focused on data sharing agreements.

A version of this article was first published by Pulse’s sister title Healthcare Leader