48 hours from 25 November, and the first consultant strike since 2023
What happened
On Monday 26 October 2026, the British Medical Association (BMA) announced that consultants in England will go on strike in November. Consultants are the most senior doctors in a hospital. They lead medical teams, run outpatient clinics, carry out operations and make the final call on complicated cases. The strike is planned to last 48 hours. The BMA says it will start at 06:59 on Tuesday 25 November and end at 06:59 on Thursday 27 November. NHS Employers, the organisation that represents NHS trusts as employers, describes the same action as two strike days: 25 and 26 November. Both descriptions point to the same two working days being affected. During the walkout, consultants say they will still provide emergency cover. The BMA describes this as the level of care a hospital keeps running on Christmas Day. Formal strike notices still have to be served on employers. It would be the first strike by consultants in England since 2023. The dispute has been running since May 2025. Consultants voted for industrial action in a ballot in July 2026, and more than three quarters of those who voted backed a strike. That vote gave the BMA a legal mandate, but the union did not call any action at the time. It says it has now done so because talks with the Government have never become formal, funded negotiations. The BMA's consultants committee is led by two co-chairs, Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta. They said the union had engaged in good faith for more than 18 months, and added: "Unfortunately, that road has now run out, and we have been forced to announce strikes." They also said the strikes can still be called off, and that the Government has four weeks to avoid any action taking place. The same week brings announcements elsewhere in the UK. In Northern Ireland, consultants and specialist, associate specialist and specialty (SAS) doctors plan to strike on 23 and 24 November, and resident doctors on 20 and 21 November. In Scotland, the BMA opened a ballot of consultants and SAS doctors on 26 October. A ballot is not a strike, and nothing has been called in Scotland.
Why this matters
November is when the NHS starts bracing for winter. Flu season gets going, cold weather pushes up hospital admissions, and trusts are already planning how to keep beds free. A two day consultant strike lands in the middle of that. In past strikes, the biggest effect has not been on emergency care, which keeps running, but on planned care: outpatient clinics, scans, follow ups and non urgent operations. Those are the appointments that get moved when senior doctors are not at work. If you are waiting for a hip replacement, a cataract operation or a clinic appointment in late November, there is a real chance you will hear from your hospital. There is also a real chance you will not, because many appointments go ahead as planned. It matters for a second reason too. This is a four week warning, not a surprise. That gives patients, pharmacies, GP practices and hospitals time to plan — the kind of notice that stops disruption turning into a crisis. And nothing is settled yet. The dates are real, but so is the window before them.
What the evidence actually says
It is worth separating what has been confirmed from what has not. **Confirmed.** The BMA has publicly announced the dates and times. NHS Employers has confirmed it has been told. Both organisations published statements on 26 October 2026. **Not yet confirmed.** No list of cancelled appointments exists. Hospitals cannot produce one until they know which of their own consultants will be out, and that work happens in the weeks before a strike. Anyone telling you now that your specific appointment is cancelled does not have that information. **Still possible.** The strike could be called off. The BMA has said so plainly, and has set out what it wants in exchange. On the pay and conditions behind the dispute, the figures are these. The BMA says consultants' pay has fallen by about 25% in real terms over roughly the last 17 years — that is, after taking inflation into account. The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England submitted evidence on 19 October for the 2027/28 pay round, and their plans assume a 2.4% uplift. That is a planning assumption rather than a decision: the independent Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration still has to make a recommendation. The BMA calls 2.4% a real terms cut. Consultants received a 3.5% pay rise this year. Reported average earnings for a consultant are around £152,000 a year. Pay is not the whole dispute. The BMA is also asking for more protected time for teaching, training and improving services, a reduction in consultants' standard working hours to bring them in line with other NHS and public sector staff, and better recognition of the most demanding out of hours work. NHS Employers says discussions involving the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, unions and employers began in July, and has urged the BMA to come back to the table. The BMA's position is that those discussions were never formal negotiations. Both statements can be true at once — they describe the same meetings differently.
Qurexa perspective
One thing worth saying clearly, because it causes needless worry every time there is an NHS strike: this action involves hospital consultants. It does not involve community pharmacy, prescription dispensing or medicine deliveries. Your repeat prescription does not go through a hospital consultant. It goes through your GP practice and your pharmacy, and both work as normal on strike days. At Qurexa we deliver prescriptions and support people with taking their medicines on time, and the pattern around any disruption is always the same. The people who struggle are rarely the ones whose appointment was cancelled. They are the ones who left a repeat prescription until the last few tablets in a week when everything was busier than usual. So the honest, boring advice is the useful one: if you take regular medicine, order your next batch a few days earlier than usual in the second half of November. Not because anything is going to run out, but because a small buffer costs you nothing and removes the one problem you can actually control.
Practical advice
If you have an NHS appointment in late November: - **Go, unless your hospital tells you not to.** In previous NHS strikes the standard advice has been to attend as normal unless you have been contacted directly. Turning up to a cancelled clinic is a wasted morning; missing one that was going ahead can cost you months. - **Trust the letter, text or phone call from your trust.** Not a social media post, not a neighbour, not a headline. Your hospital is the only organisation that knows about your appointment. - **If your appointment is moved, ask for the new date before you end the call.** Ask too whether the delay changes anything about your treatment, and who to ring if your symptoms get worse while you wait. - **For a life threatening emergency, call 999.** A&E departments stay open during strikes and emergency cover continues. - **For urgent problems that are not emergencies, use NHS 111 online or call 111.** They will tell you where to go. - **GP practices and pharmacies run as normal.** So do most community services. If you take regular medicine: - Order your repeat prescription a few days earlier than usual through November. - Check whether you have enough of anything you only take occasionally, such as an inhaler or pain relief. - If you are going away, order before you go rather than after you get back. If you are a carer, do the same check for the person you look after.
What to know
- Consultants in England plan to strike for 48 hours, from 06:59 on 25 November to 06:59 on 27 November 2026. NHS Employers describes this as two strike days, 25 and 26 November. - It would be the first consultant strike in England since 2023. - Emergency cover will continue at the level hospitals run on Christmas Day. A&E, 999 and NHS 111 are not affected. - Planned care — clinics, scans and non urgent operations — is the part most likely to be rearranged. - No appointments have been cancelled yet. Your hospital will contact you directly if yours changes. - The strike can still be called off. The BMA says the Government has four weeks to avoid it. - Pharmacies, GP practices and prescription deliveries are not part of this action. Sources: BMA, "Consultants in England to take strike action in November", 26 October 2026, https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/consultants-in-england-to-take-strike-action-in-november. BMA, "Consultants announce strike action", 26 October 2026, https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/consultants-announce-strike-action. NHS Employers, "Consultant doctors announce strikes in November", 26 October 2026, https://www.nhsemployers.org/news/consultant-doctors-announce-strikes-november. ITV News, "Senior doctors in England plan November strike", 26 October 2026, https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-26/senior-doctors-in-england-plan-november-strike. This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional. If you are worried about a hospital appointment or a change to your treatment, contact your hospital, your GP practice or your pharmacist.
Related articles
76% of the dose, and a recall that goes all the way to the patient
On 26 October 2026, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a recall for a liquid version of clopidogrel, a medicine that helps st…
1% against 3.3%, and the bleeding figure nobody should skip
Researchers at Monash University in Australia have reported that low-dose aspirin was linked to a much lower risk of dementia — but only in one particular genet…
830 children, a small sponge, and no drill
A large clinical trial has confirmed that a liquid painted onto a decayed baby tooth can stop the decay getting worse, with no drilling, no injection and no sed…