PM's waiting list pledge at risk unless strike action ends, NHS leaders warn
NHS leaders are warning that the Prime Minister’s key waiting list pledge will be missed unless strike action involving doctors is resolved soon. They are urging the BMA and government to set aside the pre-conditions they both have to resume talks and reach a compromise deal for the sake of patients. This comes as the BMA offers the chance of a fresh pause to industrial action by consultants and to go to the independent Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) for talks with the government in a bid to end the dispute. While this is a positive step, leaders will be keen for industrial action to be suspended for both consultants and junior doctors while Acas comes in to broker talks.
As another round of co-ordinated strike action hits the NHS this week, with junior doctors, consultants and radiographers walking out together, NHS leaders say that the chances of the PM’s pledge to reduce the overall size of the waiting list by March 2024 being achieved are rapidly receding. The waiting list was 7.2 million when the PM made the pledge in January 2023 but it now stands at almost 7.8 million.
NHS leaders will continue to do all they can to meet the pledge and believe it could have been more easily achieved had it not been for the clinical and financial impact of strike action since March, with further planned action in the months to come.
The financial impact of industrial action is creating an untenable situation, and with already fragile NHS budgets being stretched to the limit, this is creating a ‘double whammy’ effect and risking further cuts to patient care. The costs of strike action are estimated at over £1.3 billion and rising.
NHS leaders are urging the BMA and government to set aside the pre-conditions they both have in order to resume talks and reach a compromise deal for the sake of patients.
They also believe that more local NHS organisations will end up in deficit if the spiralling and unplanned costs of strike action are not reimbursed within this financial year.
The waiting list for elective operations across England is currently at nearly 7.8 million, a record level which does not account for the significant backlogs in mental health and community services. Throughout 2023, the rate of the list increased on average, by 73,000 per month. Couple this with operations and appointments cancelled directly due to strikes officially at over 1 million and rising with many patients having their procedures cancelled multiple times, leaders say that that these cancelled procedures are having a domino effect on rising elective waiting lists as well jeopardising the PM’s pledge itself.
While health leaders and their teams are working hard to mitigate the impact of the strikes, they know that both the short-and longer-term impact is dire for the patients they serve.
Commenting ahead of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said:
“We know that neither the government nor the BMA want us to be in this situation, but we are now seven months on from the start of industrial action by doctors and there is no solution in sight. We urge both sides to resume talks in the hope that they can agree a compromise before winter sets in.
“If they can’t, then we think there needs to be honesty about how achievable the Prime Minister’s key pledge of reducing the size of the waiting list by March 2024 is. Since he made that pledge, the impact of strike action has made this much harder to achieve. Another 600,000 have joined the list in that time and it’s increasing by more than 70,000 on average each month.
“Unless there is a breakthrough soon, then we can unfortunately expect to wave goodbye to that pledge being met.
“Not only that, but patients will continue to experience multiple cancelled operations and appointments, greater risk to their safety and lots of ongoing disruption. All sides owe it to the public to come together to find a solution.”
About us
We are the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The members we represent employ 1.5 million staff, care for more than 1 million patients a day and control £150 billion of public expenditure. We promote collaboration and partnership working as the key to improving population health, delivering high-quality care and reducing health inequalities.
