The end of the resident doctor strikes marks an important milestone for the NHS after three years of disruption, more than 1.5 million cancelled appointments and procedures, and a settlement delivering a cumulative 35.2% pay increase. Yet long waiting lists, workforce shortages and a growing brain drain of doctors continue to present serious challenges. This review examines the latest NHS developments and what they really mean for patients considering their healthcare options.
The NHS has experienced one of its most significant periods of change since the COVID-19 pandemic. After years dominated by industrial action, mounting waiting lists and workforce pressures, there are finally signs that some important reforms are beginning to bear fruit. Resident doctor strikes have ended, diagnostic capacity has increased, patient communication is improving and preventive healthcare continues to expand.
These are all welcome developments, but it would be premature to conclude that the NHS has turned the corner. Many of the structural challenges affecting the service remain firmly in place, and millions of patients continue to experience delays that would have been considered unacceptable only a decade ago.
For anyone considering private treatment, whether in the UK or elsewhere in Europe, it is important to distinguish between encouraging headlines and the practical reality facing patients today.
The End of a Three-Year Dispute
Perhaps the most significant development is the end of the long-running resident doctor dispute in England.
After more than three years of industrial action, 15 separate walkouts and around 60 strike days, resident doctors have voted to accept the Government’s latest pay offer. During the dispute, an estimated 1.5 million NHS operations, procedures and appointments were cancelled or postponed, while the financial cost to the NHS exceeded £3 billion.
The settlement is substantial. By April 2027, resident doctors will have secured cumulative pay increases of approximately 35.2% compared with four years ago. Most senior resident doctors will now receive basic salaries approaching £76,500 before overtime and additional payments, while the Government has also committed funding for 4,500 additional specialty training places over the next three years.
Whether viewed as a justified correction to years of pay restraint or simply the inevitable outcome of prolonged industrial action, the settlement allows the NHS to refocus on what matters most: treating patients.
That said, almost half of resident doctors voting on the final agreement still supported continuing industrial action, suggesting that relations between Government and the profession may remain fragile.
The NHS Is Recovering – But Slowly
Alongside improved industrial relations, the NHS has reported one of its most productive years for diagnostic investigations.
During the past year, almost 30 million tests, scans and health checks were completed. Earlier diagnosis allows patients to enter treatment pathways more quickly and helps clinicians prioritise care more effectively.
This is undoubtedly welcome news. However, diagnosis is only one part of the patient journey. Patients do not recover because they receive an MRI scan; they recover because they eventually receive the operation or treatment that follows. Until hospitals have sufficient theatre capacity, consultants, nursing staff and beds to convert diagnosis into treatment, waiting lists will remain stubbornly high.
The NHS is therefore improving, but capacity remains its greatest constraint.
Better Communication, But Still Behind Europe
Another welcome development concerns patient communication.
NHS England is introducing new standards intended to ensure patients receive at least three weeks’ notice of planned hospital appointments, reducing the frustration of appointment letters arriving after the appointment itself has passed.
This is a sensible reform. Nevertheless, it remains some way behind the fully integrated digital communication systems operating routinely in several European healthcare systems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries such as Germany demonstrated how digital interaction with patients enabled healthcare authorities to build an almost real-time picture of regional demand and system pressures.
The NHS has made important progress in digitalisation over recent years, but there remains considerable scope to improve the way patients interact with healthcare services digitally.
Greater Emphasis on Prevention
Preventive healthcare is also receiving greater attention.
From this autumn, thousands more vulnerable older people and adults with chronic health conditions will become eligible for vaccination against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), reducing the risk of severe respiratory illness and avoidable hospital admissions.
Investment in prevention is invariably less expensive than treating serious illness later. Expanding vaccination programmes should therefore be welcomed as part of a broader strategy to reduce long-term pressure on NHS services.
The NHS Brain Drain Continues
While the strike dispute may have ended, another challenge continues to gather pace.
New figures show that 12,255 doctors applied during 2025 for Certificates of Good Standing from the General Medical Council, the documentation required to practise medicine overseas. That represents an increase of around 20% on the previous year and more than double the number recorded during both 2020 and 2021.
More than 8,200 of those applying currently hold active licences to practise medicine in Britain, suggesting that many intend to leave the NHS altogether.
Australia remains the most popular destination, followed by Canada and Ireland, with doctors attracted by higher salaries, improved work-life balance and clearer career progression.
The Government rightly points to record numbers of doctors working within the NHS and the creation of additional training posts. Nevertheless, retaining experienced clinicians may prove every bit as important as recruiting new ones. Every doctor who leaves places additional pressure on colleagues who remain and represents a significant loss of publicly funded expertise.
The Waiting List Challenge Remains
Despite these encouraging developments, the NHS’s greatest challenge remains unchanged.
More than seven million treatments are still awaiting completion across England. Behind that figure are millions of individual patients living with chronic pain, restricted mobility or deteriorating quality of life while waiting for surgery or specialist care.
The strikes undoubtedly worsened an already difficult situation, but they did not create it. Long waiting lists existed well before industrial action began and continue to reflect the wider capacity constraints affecting the NHS.
The true test of whether the NHS has genuinely turned the corner will not be measured by pay settlements, policy announcements or diagnostic statistics. It will be measured by whether patients begin receiving treatment within acceptable timescales once again.
Other Challenges Have Not Gone Away
Significant concerns also remain elsewhere within the NHS.
Investigations including the Ockenden Review continue to highlight serious shortcomings in parts of NHS maternity care, identifying recurring issues involving leadership, staffing, safety and clinical governance. While many maternity units provide excellent care, these findings demonstrate the need for continued vigilance and improvement.
Seasonal pressures are also becoming increasingly significant. Recent heatwaves placed additional strain on hospitals, ambulance services and social care providers while increasing health risks for elderly and clinically vulnerable patients.
What Does This Mean for Patients?
Taken together, the latest developments present a balanced but cautious picture.
There are genuine reasons for a modest degree of optimism. Industrial disputes have ended, diagnostic capacity has increased, patient communication is improving and preventive healthcare is receiving greater investment.
Yet none of these developments immediately changes the reality that millions of patients continue to wait months—and often considerably longer—for treatment that directly affects their quality of life.
For many patients, private healthcare therefore remains an increasingly attractive option. Others are discovering that treatment abroad is no longer simply about reducing costs, but about gaining faster access to consultant-led care, transparent fixed-price treatment packages and treatment within weeks rather than months.
At My Medical Gateway, we welcome every improvement made within the NHS. A strong NHS benefits everyone. At the same time, we believe patients deserve genuine choice. Whether they decide to remain within the NHS, seek private treatment in the UK or access care through MMG’s network of accredited hospitals across the European Union, patients are best served by making informed decisions based on clinical need, value for money and timely access to treatment.
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