Consultants on £152,000 average pay are to strike in November over a 2.4% rise they call 'an insult'
NHS consultants earning up to £150,500 a year will strike for two days from 25 November, the BMA says, after a ballot backed action on a bare-minimum legal turnout.
Hospitals will operate on Christmas Day emergency-level staffing from 6.59am on 25 November to 6.59am on 27 November, disrupting routine and planned operations. Consultants' average earnings have increased by £25,000 over four years. The BMA says the strike could be called off should Health Secretary Yvette Cooper agree to enter formal negotiations.
Yvette Cooper branded the move 'irresponsible' with the NHS facing a tough winter.
Only one in five NHS consultants in England backed the strike, the Government says.
BMA co-chairs say ministers 'kicked the can down the road' and 'that road has now run out'.
