Senior doctor strike ballot opens over pay dispute

Senior doctors in England can start voting on whether to strike over a continuing dispute over pay.

Their union, the British Medical Association (BMA), said talks with the government ended on Saturday with an offer that was unacceptable.

Depending on experience, consultants' salaries can range from below £90,000 to £120,000, but the BMA said take-home pay had fallen by 35% since 2008.

The government urged the BMA to consider the impact on patients.

If senior doctors were to walk out, it would be the first strike by consultants since the 1970s.

The ballot, which opened on Monday, will run until 27 June.

Dr Vishal Sharma from the BMA said they had been left with "no option" but to proceed with the ballot.

The decline in take-home pay, as well as high inflation, means "consultants are now effectively working four months of the year for free", said the chair of the BMA consultants committee.

Dr Sharma said the BMA remained hopeful a deal could be struck, but "given that inflation remains in double digits, the final offer from government represented yet another real-terms pay cut".

"On the back of 15 years of our pay declining, we simply could not accept a deal that continued this downward trend and have been left with no option but to proceed today with the ballot for industrial action," he added.

Details of the government's final pay offer have not been revealed.

The Department of Health said it "hugely" valued the work of NHS consultants and urged the BMA to "carefully consider the likely impact of any actions on patients".

Senior doctors received a 4.5% pay uplift last year and will also benefit from changes to their pension taxation announced in the budget, it added.

On average, consultant make nearly £30,000 a year in extra earnings through working additional hours and other supplements.

Meanwhile, junior doctors - who staged strikes in March and April of this year - are in talks over pay in England.

And junior doctors in Scotland have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a three-day strike.