Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the estimated cost of strikes within the NHS in the past six months; and what new proposals are being considered to protect patient services during any further strikes.

The five-day resident doctor strike in July 2025 had an estimated cost to the National Health Service of approximately £240 million, and this is a starting estimate for the planned November strike. The costs were lower than in July 2024 as a result of lower turnout. We continue to update estimates as new data becomes available, in line with receiving business as usual financial data from NHS systems.

The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to minimise disruption and will work with partners to ensure that safe care for patients continues to be available and emergency services continue to operate. Data published on 23 November shows that the NHS met its ambitious goal to maintain 95% of planned care during the November round of strike action, surpassing the 93% protected during action in July, while still maintaining critical services, including maternity services and urgent cancer care.