Consultants to strike, including at Royal Devon, as senior doctors say Government has 'run out of road'
Consultants will provide Christmas Day level care during the 48-hour strike, which is the first time consultants in England have taken industrial action since 2023.
Patients with hospital appointments in Devon are being told to attend as normal unless they hear otherwise, as consultants prepare to strike for 48 hours later this month.
The British Medical Association (BMA) is taking strike action involving consultants at a number of NHS trusts, including the Royal Devon, from 7am on Wednesday, November 25, until 7am on Friday, November 27. It will be the first time consultants in England have taken industrial action since 2023.
The BMA consultants committee confirmed the walkout on October 26, with senior doctors warning that the Government had “run out of road” in negotiations over working conditions and pay. It is understood from the BMA that consultants will provide only Christmas Day level care across the 48 hours.
The Royal Devon said it was working across the trust to make sure robust plans were in place to protect the safety and welfare of patients and staff. Anyone with an appointment at one of its hospitals is asked to attend unless they hear from the trust. Patients are asked not to call to check whether an appointment is going ahead, as the trust will contact anyone directly if it needs to rearrange it.
The emergency department will remain open 24 hours a day for anyone with a life-threatening emergency.
The trust said its hospitals, like the wider NHS and the local health and care system, were busy. People with a medical problem that is not critical or life-threatening are asked to visit their local pharmacy or GP for advice, or to go to the trust’s minor injury units and walk-in centre. Anyone with an urgent problem who is not sure what to do is advised to contact 111 first, by phone or online.
The dispute between consultants and the Government began in May 2025, and members delivered a mandate for strike action in a ballot in July this year. The BMA says it is seeking commitments to meaningful and fully funded measures to resolve doctors’ concerns over working conditions and pay restoration.
The strike dates were announced just days after it emerged that the Government was recommending a pay rise of 2.4 per cent for all doctors in 2027/28 to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration, a figure the BMA describes as below inflation.
Consultants committee co-chairs Helen Neary and Shanu Datta said they had engaged in good faith with the Government for more than 18 months and proposed practical solutions, but that “time-and-time again ministers have kicked the can down the road”. They added: “Unfortunately, that road has now run out, and we have been forced to announce strikes.”
They said striking “does not come naturally” to consultants, but that they were hearing loud and clear from the profession that “they have had enough”. They described consultants as the most senior and skilled doctors in the NHS, central to frontline care, running and designing services and training the future workforce.
The pair said the Government had four weeks from October 26 to avoid the action, and that they looked forward to hearing from health secretary Yvette Cooper on areas where they could work together to prevent the strikes.
Elsewhere, balloting of consultants and SAS doctors in Scotland over working conditions and pay opened on October 26. In Northern Ireland, strike action is planned for consultants and other senior doctors on November 23 and 24, and for resident doctors on November 20 and 21.