Hospital consultants across England are preparing to take industrial action over pay, potentially joining junior doctors in a coordinated strike movement that threatens to cause massive disruption to the NHS this winter.
Deadline Looms for Health Secretary
The British Medical Association's consultants committee has delivered an ultimatum to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, demanding a resolution to their pay dispute by 31 December. If no agreement is reached, they plan to ballot members in January for industrial action that could see senior doctors walking out soon after.
Consultants are seeking a 5.5% pay increase for this year, representing an additional 1.5% above the 4% rise already imposed for 2025/26. They argue that years of below-inflation settlements have eroded their real-term earnings by 26% since 2008/09.
Junior Doctors Escalate Their Campaign
Meanwhile, junior doctors - now known as resident doctors - are adopting increasingly militant tactics in their own pay dispute. Beginning their thirteenth strike today, they plan to stage walkouts every month throughout 2026 if they secure a fresh mandate for industrial action when their current one expires in January.
These doctors are pursuing full pay restoration, claiming a 26% real-terms reduction in their earnings. Their latest strike action runs from 7am on Friday until 7am on Wednesday 19 November, adding to the 1.7 million appointments and operations already rescheduled due to NHS strikes since 2022.
Winter of Discontent Looms for NHS
The potential coordination between both senior and junior doctors presents ministers with what one NHS leader described as a "major new headache" during the health service's most challenging period.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, warned: "Consultants voting to down tools would be a bitter pill to swallow for NHS staff who are working hard to recover performance and reform services. More strikes over winter would cause huge disruption to patient care during the busiest period of the year for the NHS."
The timing couldn't be worse for the government's pledge to fix the NHS and reduce treatment delays. The waiting list currently stands at 7.39 million, affecting 6.24 million patients, despite a slight reduction in September.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has taken a hard line against the BMA, recently accusing the union of acting like a "cartel" and making unreasonable demands. He highlighted that resident doctors have seen their pay increase by 28.9% since 2022, while consultants earn an average of £127,540 annually.
However, the BMA remains steadfast, with two-thirds of consultants having indicated willingness to strike in an earlier indicative ballot. The union maintains that all doctors deserve full pay restoration to address years of erosion.
With the December deadline fast approaching and junior doctors escalating their campaign, the NHS faces the prospect of its most significant industrial action crisis yet, potentially derailing recovery efforts and leaving patients facing further delays to vital treatment.
