Despite five days of strikes by resident doctors from Friday 25 July to Wednesday 30 July, figures show it was a record-breaking month for cancer care by London’s NHS services.

Thanks to the hard work of London clinicians, the strike disruption did not stop those most in need of care from accessing it. Across the capital in July, a record 38,000 people received a cancer diagnosis or had the disease ruled out, successfully meeting the Faster Diagnosis Standard.

While London clinicians faced significant disruption by the resident doctors’ strikes in July, the waiting list fell, with the number of treatments delivered in July (285,926) up by 7.3% than the same month in the previous year (266,528).

Dr Chris Streather, Chief Medical Director for the NHS in London, said: “The BMA’s call for industrial action was undoubtedly disruptive to NHS services across the capital, but our staff rose to the challenge.

“There were nearly 390,000 A&E attendances in London during July, and despite the strikes we managed to discharge, admit or transfer 78% patients within four hours. Meanwhile, thanks to the hard work of London healthcare professionals, a record number of cancer patients could still access the quality support they deserve.”

July saw 2,500 Londoners start cancer treatment within the 62 days standard waiting time, the highest since the standard was introduced in October 2023.

Imperial College Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust overcame the disruption of strikes and delivered 95% of planned activity for its patients.

During the five days of industrial action, Imperial delivered more than 120 cancer treatments, as well as over 720 diagnostic procedures and scans. This was in the typical range for a two-week period at the trust, meaning identification of cancers or providing the all-clear didn’t have to wait because of strikes.

With nearly 860 cancer treatments delivered at Imperial in July, it was their highest treating month of 2025 to date, and the second highest month for first-time cancer treatments this year.

Professor Rajarshi Bhattacharya, divisional director of surgery and cancer at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We worked hard to maintain clinical services, including cancer appointments, during the latest industrial action. Most patients were still able to have their planned care which has helped us to continue reducing long waits. We’re very grateful to everyone for this huge effort.”

In the latest 12 months (Jul-24 to Jun-25) NHS providers in London have now delivered an additional 1.13 million operations, appointments and tests compared to the previous 12 months.

Like Imperial, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) delivered 95% of all planned activity despite July’s industrial action.