Health Services: Waiting Lists
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS appointments were lost due to strike action between July to November (a) 2023 and (b) 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth
NHS England publishes data on the number of rescheduled appointments due to industrial action, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/preparedness-for-potential-industrial-action-in-the-nhs/
We are pleased that a deal was agreed in summer 2024 between the Government and the British Medical Association Resident Doctors Committee bringing an end to its prolonged strike action. The Government can now work with resident doctors to get on with its mission of fixing the health service for patients, including tackling waiting lists.
As set out in the Plan for Change, we have committed to return to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029. We have already supported this with additional investment in the Autumn Budget 2024, which has enabled us to deliver an additional two million appointments, seven months ahead of schedule.
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