The BMA's consultants committee announced the two-day strike after the union said the government was "ignoring concerns" around the "wellbeing and workload" of medics. Emergency cover will continue during the strike, similar to how hospitals are staffed on Christmas day.
The strike can be avoided if health secretary Yvette Cooper commits to formal negotiations on pay and working conditions, the BMA said.
The government had recommended a 2.4% pay rise for doctors for the 2027/28 financial year. The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England previously told the independent doctors' pay review body it could plan the uplift "without having to make trade-offs against headline government health commitments". The BMA argues the increase falls short because of rising inflation and increasing demands on the NHS.
Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta, co-chairs of the BMA's consultants committee, said consultants provide frontline, life-saving care and are central to training the future workforce, but that the government is "pushing them further away from the NHS".
"Since we entered into dispute over 18 months ago we have engaged in good faith with the government, proposing practical solutions, but time and time again ministers have kicked the can down the road," they said. "Unfortunately, that road has now run out and we have been forced to announce strikes."
They said consultants' pay is still a quarter down in real terms on what it was 17 years ago, and that excessive workloads are driving colleagues to burnout.
Cooper said NHS England and the Department have been in constructive discussions with the BMA, and called the planned action "irresponsible" at a crucial time. "With colleagues across the NHS, I am determined to support staff and patients through the tough winter period," she said.
Consultants in England last went on strike in 2023 but have been in dispute with the government since last year.