{"id":86494,"date":"2026-07-06T16:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T16:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/nhs-senior-doctors-in-england-vote-in-favour-of-strikes\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T16:23:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T16:23:00","slug":"nhs-senior-doctors-in-england-vote-in-favour-of-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=86494","title":{"rendered":"NHS senior doctors in England vote in favour of strikes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Senior doctors across England have voted in favour of strike action in the future over pay and pensions. <\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In a ballot, 76% of consultants who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA) said they would be willing to take industrial action, meaning they now have a mandate for strike action over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It comes after resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, accepted a pay deal with the government to end three years of strikes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Patients have seen hundreds of thousands of appointments cancelled due to industrial action over the past few years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The BMA says no strikes need to take place if the government addresses the issues that include an &#8220;end to pay erosion&#8221; that it says is also affecting pensions. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Of 35,067 eligible members, 18,069 (51.53%) voted, with 13,695 voting yes to potential strike action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, co-chairs of the BMA consultants committee, said: &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Health and Social Care Secretary James Murray said there was &#8220;no justification&#8221; for strikes given consultants are some of the highest paid public sector staff, and among the top 2% of earners in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;After a 28.5% increase in basic starting pay over the last four years and with the average consultant now earning over \u00a3152,000 a year, there is simply no justification for strikes that will cause disruption to patients and the NHS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I urge the BMA and all consultants not to rush into another cycle of unnecessary and disruptive industrial action.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The BMA says average pay is still 26% lower in real terms that it was 17 years ago and that the final pay point of a consultant in England is \u00a316,000 lower than that of colleagues in Wales. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Consultants in England last walked out between July and October 2023, which included two strikes co-ordinated with resident doctors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Consultants and specialist doctors in Northern Ireland though have striking over pay in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Meanwhile, a ballot of specialist, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors in England missed the legal turnout threshold.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Some 2,738 SAS doctors voted, a turnout of 43%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">However, the BMA said that of those who did take part in the ballot, 90% voted in favour of strikes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c79yyyxzergo?at_medium=RSS&#038;at_campaign=rss\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senior doctors across England have voted in favour of strike action in the future over pay&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[652,866,7830,364,386,656,1062],"class_list":["post-86494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-doctors","tag-england","tag-favour","tag-nhs","tag-senior","tag-strikes","tag-vote"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - 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