The British Medical Association is to ballot doctors for industrial action for the first time in almost 40 years, in protest at the government’s reforms to public-sector pensions.

The union has ruled out strikes to ensure that patient care is not endangered, but will be asking its members whether they support action short of a strike.

The BMA said that the vote was a “last resort” after the government had failed to return to meaningful talks on NHS pensions.

The association added that 84 per cent of the 46,000 doctors and medical students it surveyed in January wanted to reject the government’s offer.

Chairman of the BMA Council, Dr Hamish Meldrum, said that the government was intending to renege on a deal struck four years ago, which had reformed the NHS pensions scheme to make it “fair, affordable and sustainable.”

The 2008 agreement gave doctors a retirement age of 65, while those under the previous 1995 scheme can retire at 60.

New government proposals will see an immediate increase in personal pension contributions, the retirement age rise to 68 and the end of the final salary scheme for hospital doctors. GPs already have a career average scheme.

“The decision to ballot for the first time in 40 years has not been taken lightly,” said Meldrum. “Doctors and medical students have overwhelmingly rejected the current offer, and we’ve pursued every avenue we possibly could to bring the government back to meaningful talks. With no signs of movement, we simply cannot ignore this strength of feeling by medical staff. We therefore have no other option but to ballot on industrial action.”

Meldrum warned that “a big tranche of experienced doctors” were likely take early retirement and leave the NHS if the pension changes were implemented, and that it would also be damaging to medical students who already faced a massive hike in tuition fees.

Responding to the BMA’s move, NHS Employers said that patient care would be the “first priority” in the event of industrial action, but urged doctors to wait until the government had “released full, final details” of the pension proposals before voting in ballots.

“I understand the anxiety of staff about changes to pensions,” said Dean Royles, director of the NHS Employers.

“But this announcement will be disconcerting for patients and disappointing to the majority staff who recognise the importance of the essential services they provide and the impact industrial action will have on patient care.

“It is vital that they make fully-informed decisions and we ask that all parties concentrate on helping staff understand the changes.”

The last time BMA members took industrial action was in 1975, when doctors adopted ‘work-to-rule’ over a contractual dispute.

Last week, the BMA was also one of the health associations excluded from a Downing Street summit on the controversial Health and Social Care Bill, which the union opposes.