Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on (1) the number of individuals on the NHS elective waiting list, and (2) the average waiting times, of each strike day by resident doctors.

We know that industrial action has hugely damaging impacts on hospital care, including elective waiting times. National Health Service industrial action cost taxpayers £1.7 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. Nearly 1.5 million appointments were rescheduled due to strikes between December 2022 and July 2024.

Planning and mitigation for any prospective strikes are underway, supported by internal assessments of the possible impact based on previous industrial action.

NHS England has published data on the impact from previous industrial action on completed pathways for consultant-led elective services on the days of, and immediately surrounding, the strikes, with further information available on the NHS England website.