On Monday 15 June, resident doctors walk out again. We have been here so many times that the strike days almost blur into one. Each one means cancelled operations, postponed appointments and delayed diagnostic tests for patients who have already waited far too long. And each one finds a Government that promised to end this with no credible plan to do so.
The Same Strike, On Repeat
Labour came to office promising to get a grip on NHS industrial action and bring the waiting list down. Instead the disputes have rumbled on, and patients keep paying the price. Previous resident doctor walkouts have led to tens of thousands of cancelled appointments and postponed procedures each time. Multiply that across strike after strike and you begin to see the scale of the harm being done to ordinary people who just want to be seen.
Seven Million Still in the Queue
The waiting list peaked at around 7.7 million in September 2023 and has come down to roughly 7.1 million by March 2026. I'll give credit where it's due: that is movement in the right direction. But let's keep our feet on the ground. Seven million people waiting for hospital treatment is not a success story — it is a national backlog the size of a major country's population, and every strike day pushes the progress further out of reach.
Labour promised to clear this. They are nowhere near. Spin about interim targets does not shorten the wait for the constituent in Preston East sitting at home in pain, wondering when the phone will ring.
A Pay Dispute With No End in Sight
At the heart of it is a pay dispute the Government cannot seem to resolve. The BMA argues that doctors' real-terms pay has fallen by around 26% since 2008–09 once inflation is taken into account, and is pressing for more specialist training posts to clear a “jobs bottleneck” that is blocking young doctors' careers. You do not have to agree with every demand to see that a Government with no strategy to settle this is a Government failing both staff and patients.
What Reform UK Would Do
Reform UK would get round the table and actually negotiate in good faith rather than letting these disputes drift. We would tackle the training bottleneck so that British-trained doctors can build their careers here instead of leaving for Australia and Canada. And we would cut the layers of NHS management and waste that swallow money which should be reaching the front line.
The NHS is the safety net every family in this country relies on. It deserves a Government with a plan — not one that hopes the next strike will be the last.