Doctors: Industrial Disputes
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to mitigate the potential impact of doctor strike action within NHS services in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The National Health Service works hard to prioritise resources to protect all patients using its services during the period of strike action, in particular emergency treatment, critical care, neonatal care, maternity, and trauma, and to ensure we prioritise patients who have waited the longest for elective care and cancer surgery.
To minimise the potential impact of the round of resident doctor strike action of 17 to 22 December, NHS England wrote to all trusts on 15 December asking them to prepare for planned industrial action. Further information is available at the following link:
The NHS makes every effort through rigorous contingency planning to minimise disruption as a result of industrial action and to mitigate its impact on patients and the public. During the industrial action by resident doctors from 14 to 19 November 2025, data published by NHS England showed that the NHS met its ambitious goal to maintain 95% of planned care, surpassing the 93% protected during action in July, while still maintaining critical services, including maternity services and urgent cancer care.
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