Consultants across England have voted in favour of NHS strike action over pay and pensions, winning a year-long mandate that threatens fresh disruption just as the health service emerged from three years of junior doctor strikes.
In a ballot run by the British Medical Association, 76% of senior doctors who voted said they were willing to take industrial action. Of 35,067 eligible members, 18,069 voted – a turnout of 51.5%, barely above the legal threshold required for any strike to go ahead. Some 13,695 voted yes, while 4,369 opposed.
“Consultants in England voted 76% in favour of strike action over pay and pensions, securing a year-long mandate.”
The decision comes a week after resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – called off their long-running dispute after accepting the government’s pay offer. Patients have already seen hundreds of thousands of appointments cancelled in recent years because of industrial action.
Consultants, who earn an average of £152,000 a year, held off announcing any strike dates, offering hope that talks with ministers could avert stoppages. The British Medical Association says no strikes need take place if the government addresses what it calls an “end to pay erosion” that is also affecting pensions. The union argues that average consultant pay is still 26% lower in real terms than it was 17 years ago, and that the final pay point for a consultant in England is £16,000 lower than in Wales.
Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, co-chairs of the BMA consultants committee, said: “This is a clear message from consultants in England that they are not willing to tolerate the continued attack on their pay and professional value, and that, if necessary, they are willing to act.”
But the health secretary, James Murray, struck a defiant note. “After a 28.5% increase in basic starting pay over the last four years and with the average consultant now earning over £152,000 a year, there is simply no justification for strikes that will cause disruption to patients and the NHS,” he said. “Consultants are an invaluable part of the NHS workforce, and we have been working closely with them to improve job planning and modernise their contracts. Strikes would only get in the way of this important work.”
If consultants do walk out, they will continue to cover emergency and urgent care, but large numbers of planned appointments and operations requiring senior doctors would be cancelled. Hospitals, which had become adept at managing strike days during the junior doctor dispute, will need to find new ways of working. The last consultant strikes in England ran from July to October 2023. Now, with a fresh mandate in hand, the question is whether the government can negotiate a deal before the picket lines return.