Dr Tom Dolphin

Who Dr Tom Dolphin is

Dr Tom Dolphin is a consultant anaesthetist in London and has served as Chair of Council at the British Medical Association (BMA) since June 2025. The BMA is a professional association and registered trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. During his time at the BMA, Dolphin has chaired the Junior (now Resident) Doctors Committee, served as a national contract negotiator for both consultants and resident doctors, and chaired his hospital trust's local negotiating committee. He has been on the BMA Board of Directors since 2024 and has been part of the Trade Dispute Preparedness Group, working on workplace organising and developing the BMA Strike Fund. He is known for arguing that sustained government underpayment of doctors constitutes a real-terms pay cut and for calling on the government to restore doctors' pay and conditions to prevent further industrial action.

References for this biography

1. 1.Dr Tom Dolphin elected as new BMA council chair – BMA media centre — Confirms election as BMA Council Chair in June 2025, his role as anaesthetic consultant in London, and BMA council membership since 2012
2. 2.Leadership at the BMA – BMA official page — Confirms current role title, clinical background, history as Junior Doctors Committee chair, national contract negotiator, BMA Board of Directors member since 2024, Trade Dispute Preparedness Group, and founding of Proud@BMA
3. 3.Tom Dolphin elected as BMA council chair – BMA News & Opinion — Confirms election date (25 June 2025), BMA council membership since 2012, and stated priorities on doctors' pay restoration
4. 4.BMA says Government's suggested pay rise for doctors in 2026 is indefensible – BMA media centre — Documents Dr Dolphin's public position as BMA council chair on doctors' pay policy, quoted responding to the Government's DDRB evidence in 2025
5. 5.Contact us – BMA — Confirms BMA head office address: BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JP
6. 6.Giving a voice – The Doctor (BMA) — Provides background on Dr Dolphin's entry into BMA activism via the North Thames junior doctors committee and his motivations for union leadership

Notable achievements

• Elected Chair of BMA Council in June 2025, following the BMA's Annual Representative Meeting in Liverpool, becoming the principal executive lead and chair of the BMA's board of directors. Source ↗
• Served as chair of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee from 2010 to 2012, during which he supported the 2012 doctors' strike over pension reforms. Source ↗
• Founded the Proud@BMA network for LGBTQ+ elected BMA members in 2023, serving as its founding co-convenor. Source ↗
• Served as a national contract negotiator for both consultants and resident doctors simultaneously while also chairing his hospital trust's local negotiating committee. Source ↗

What Dr Tom Dolphin has said

• “The changes in today's consultation are a far cry from what are needed to fix a broken regulator that is aggressively pursuing doctors and failing the public.”

  BMA council chair · Medical ethics & regulation · 30 Sept 2026 · GMC changes are ‘far cry from what’s needed to fix broken regulator’, says BMA ↗

• “NHS Providers are right about the "rock bottom" workforce morale in the NHS, so it doesn't make sense to leave some doctors scratching round for any shifts they can get, while the hospitals are crying out for more staff at the same time.”

  BMA council chair · NHS & care workforce/staffing · 30 Sept 2026 · Trust leaders point to ‘rock-bottom’ morale of NHS workforce ↗

• “Rather than restoring the medical profession's confidence in the GMC, or protecting the safety of the public, both will be further eroded.”

  BMA council chair · Medical ethics & regulation · 30 Sept 2026 · GMC reform plans condemned as 'betrayal' that won't fix 'broken regulator' ↗

• “Governments do not get to choose their negotiating partners. We would have much preferred the health and social care secretary to contact the BMA privately and directly to seek de-escalation, rather than via the media.”

  Chair of the BMA · GP access · 30 Sept 2026 · How the government is changing GP contract negotiations ↗

• “The UK Government needs to act quickly and provide support now to the many doctors and nursing staff, and their families, who have suffered significant financial losses as a result of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace and then developing Long COVID.”

  Chair of the BMA · Long Covid · 30 Sept 2026 · ‘Unconscionable’ that the Government has not recognised Long COVID as an occupational disease, warns BMA and RCN ↗

• “It is unconscionable that the government has kept these workers, who put themselves at immense personal risk to keep our health services afloat and to care for our loved ones during the pandemic, waiting for so long for recognition.”

  BMA chair · Long Covid · 30 Sept 2026 · Fresh call to recognise long Covid as occupational disease for nurses ↗

• “The events at Countess of Chester hospital a decade ago were some of the most appalling we've had to face in recent NHS history. This tragedy stems from systemic failure, and major reforms to NHS culture and safeguarding are now required to make the NHS safer for all in future.”

  Chair of BMA council · NHS & care workforce/staffing · 29 Sept 2026 · BMA responds to the Thirlwall Inquiry ↗

• “it stemmed from "system reform" within the NHS and that it required "major reforms" to the culture of the health service”

  chair of the British Medical Association · Maternity & neonatal · 29 Sept 2026 · Ministers vow sweeping NHS changes after ‘devastating’ report on Lucy Letby hospital ↗

• “morale remained low among NHS staff and there were still high levels of vacancies. The government "will need to explain how fewer staff will be able to deliver more care," he said.”

  chair of the BMA council · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · NHS will die under Reform unless doctors stop striking and work with Labour, says Wes Streeting ↗

• “We are told that there will be dedicated doctors assigned to this service. We're keen to find out where this extra staffing is going to be sourced from. Doctors are already flat out across the NHS and there is little spare capacity to go around.”

  leader of the British Medical Association · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · NHS ‘online hospital’ plan announced to help cut waiting lists in England ↗

• “We would have much preferred the health secretary to contact the BMA privately and directly to seek de-escalation, rather than via the media. Governments do not get to decide their negotiating partners, and not should they”

  BMA's chair of council · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · Wes Streeting calls BMA ‘impossible’ and says they made ‘misleading’ claims ↗

• “My political career isn't the relevant thing here. I'm here representing a trade union. Trade unions are a force for good in society. They're about workers coming together to demand fair treatment.”

  Chair of the BMA · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · BMA chair denies using junior doctors’ strikes to progress political career ↗

• “It was 'good to finally have pushback against the narrative from politicians that the NHS was never overwhelmed'. He said many healthcare staff, disproportionately those from ethnic minorities, paid with their lives, and people were left to use bin bags instead of gowns in the face of a deadly disease.”

  Council chair of the British Medical Association · Hospital discharge / bed-blocking · 27 Aug 2026 · NHS was ‘on brink of collapse’ during pandemic, Covid inquiry finds ↗

Where Dr Tom Dolphin has been quoted

1. ICB threatens local GP leaders with ‘GMC breach’ over online access advicepulsetoday.co.uk · 30 Sept 2026
2. GMC changes are ‘far cry from what’s needed to fix broken regulator’, says BMAbma.org.uk · 30 Sept 2026
3. Trust leaders point to ‘rock-bottom’ morale of NHS workforcethedoctor.bma.org.uk · 30 Sept 2026
4. GMC reform plans condemned as 'betrayal' that won't fix 'broken regulator'doctors.net.uk · 30 Sept 2026
5. How the government is changing GP contract negotiationsgponline.com · 30 Sept 2026
6. ‘Unconscionable’ that the Government has not recognised Long COVID as an occupational disease, warns BMA and RCNbma.org.uk · 30 Sept 2026
7. Fresh call to recognise long Covid as occupational disease for nursesnursinginpractice.com · 30 Sept 2026
8. BMA responds to the Thirlwall Inquirybma.org.uk · 29 Sept 2026
9. Ministers vow sweeping NHS changes after ‘devastating’ report on Lucy Letby hospitaltheguardian.com · 29 Sept 2026
10. NHS will die under Reform unless doctors stop striking and work with Labour, says Wes Streetingtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
11. NHS ‘online hospital’ plan announced to help cut waiting lists in Englandtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
12. Wes Streeting calls BMA ‘impossible’ and says they made ‘misleading’ claimstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
13. BMA chair denies using junior doctors’ strikes to progress political careertheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
14. NHS was ‘on brink of collapse’ during pandemic, Covid inquiry findstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

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Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.bma.org.uk/about-us/about-the-bma/how-we-work/leadership-at-the-bma
• Websitehttps://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.