Junior doctor strikes threaten to cancel out progress with NHS waiting list

Junior doctors on the picket line outside Cheltenham hospital during their dispute over pay – BEN BIRCHALL/PA

Junior doctor strikes could cancel out the progress made on reducing the NHS waiting list, data suggest.

The NHS posted a near record fall of the overall waiting list of 100,000 to 7.6 million in November, when there were no doctors’ strikes. It marks the largest decline since 2010, excluding three months at the start of the pandemic.

Victoria Atkins, the Health Secretary, said it was a sign of what staff could do “when they don’t have to contend with industrial action”.

It was the second consecutive month that the waiting list has fallen, dropping from a high of almost 7.8 million in September.

November was the first month without strike action in more than a year, and the overall waiting list fell by 95,598. It was the highest decrease, excluding the pandemic, since December 2010 when the waiting list stood at under 2.5 million.

However, more than 200,000 appointments and operations were cancelled during nine days of strikes by junior doctors within the past month.

Around 114,000 of these occurred in the six-day walkout at the start of this year, which NHS leaders said had caused “unprecedented disruption”, with the true cost “likely to be even higher”.

A further 88,000 people had appointments delayed in the three days leading up to Christmas.

Ms Atkins said: “This shows the progress our fantastic NHS staff can make towards bringing waiting lists down when they don’t have to contend with industrial action.

“We want to put an end to damaging strikes once and for all, and if the BMA junior doctors committee can demonstrate they have reasonable expectations, I will still sit down with them.”

The number of people waiting for appointments fell by 60,000 to 6.39 million, the NHS said, with some patients waiting for multiple appointments and procedures.

NHS figures showed staff had treated a record number of patients in a single month, with 1.6 million appointments completed.

Dr Rob Laurenson, the co-chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee, said he was ready to talk to the Health Secretary about a ‘fair outcome’ – GEOFF PUGH FOR THE TELEGRAPH

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, said: “We have experienced the toughest possible start to 2024 with the longest set of strikes in our 75-year history, but we remain focused on doing all we can to make progress on the Covid backlog that has inevitably built up over the pandemic.

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“While we know we have a long way to go, caring for over 1.6 million people in a single month is such important progress and makes such a huge difference for those patients who have been waiting for an appointment or operation.”

The British Medical Association (BMA) has been asking for a 35 per cent pay rise and said it is “ready to end this dispute once and for all”.

Dr Rob Laurenson, the co-chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee, said: “Victoria Atkins on Monday evening said she’s keen to deliver a ‘fair and reasonable’ outcome. We are ready to talk about that fair outcome at her earliest convenience.”

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