Senior doctors call off two-day strike planned this month

Meetings have been taking place over recent months, but the BMA is now entering formal talks with the government’s negotiating team. They could start as soon as this week.

In a statement, BMA consultants committee co-chairs Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta said: “We welcome the opportunity to enter formal negotiations with the government and hope this marks a turning point in a dispute that has gone on for far too long.

“We’ve always said strikes do not need to go ahead as long as the government is willing to genuinely negotiate and now is their chance to do so.

“We have received assurances that there are no constraints on what we discuss in these negotiations, and we look forward to hearing their proposals on both pay and working conditions.”

But government sources said giving them a bigger pay rise this year was not on the table because of the state of the public finances and current level of their pay.

Average earnings for consultants top £150,000 a year.

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said the cancellation of the strike was “welcome news for patients and the wider NHS”.

“I had a constructive discussion with the BMA on reforms that could give consultants a stronger voice, greater flexibility and more freedom to innovate, while improving services for patients.”

In the strike ballot, 76% of consultants who took part voted in favour of strike action, with just over half of eligible BMA members taking part.

The government says this represents only around one in five consultants employed by the NHS in England voting for strike action, as nearly half are not BMA members.