Consultants Call Off November Strike to Open Formal Pay Talks

The British Medical Association has paused the walkout that was set to begin at 06:59 GMT on 25 November, when consultants would have staffed emergency care only — the same cover hospitals run on Christmas Day. That arrangement was expected to hit routine and planned, or elective, services hard. Instead, the union says it is now in formal discussions with the government over pay and working conditions.

Money is the sticking point. Consultants, the most senior doctors in hospitals, received a 3.5% pay increase this year. The BMA argues their pay has fallen by a quarter over the past 17 years once inflation is counted — using an inflation measure that tends to run higher than the one economists prefer. Average earnings for consultants top £150,000 a year.

The union's demands stretch past basic pay. It wants the standard working week cut from 40 hours to 35, higher pay for out-of-hours work, and pension changes including more flexibility over when they can be taken.

BMA consultants committee co-chairs Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta called the talks a possible turning point in a dispute that has lasted far too long. They said strikes do not need to go ahead as long as the government genuinely negotiates, and that they had been assured there were no constraints on the topics up for discussion. They added they looked forward to hearing the government's proposals on pay and working conditions.

The mandate behind the strike was not overwhelming. In the ballot, 76% of consultants who voted backed action, with just over half of eligible BMA members taking part. The government says that amounts to roughly one in five consultants employed by the NHS in England voting for a strike, since nearly half of them are not BMA members.