UK Health Workers’ Experiences of Striking and Not Striking in the 2022–2024 Industrial Disputes

Starting in 2022 and continuing into 2024, health workers in the UK voted to take widespread strike action. Amongst the literature that has examined healthcare strikes, there is a paucity of qualitative literature and little that explores the perspectives of those who work through strikes. This study sought to address this, exploring the perspectives of health workers who did and did not go on strike in the United Kingdom throughout the 2022–2024 disputes. Semistructured interviews were carried out with an interdisciplinary sample of NHS staff who both did and did not strike. Three themes emerged: reasons for (not) striking, managing the strikes, and views of the NHS. There were several factors that shaped participants’ views about and experiences of the strikes. Most participants, even those who did not strike, had sympathy for the strikes and strikers. While the impact of the strikes was not felt equally, with some staff facing fare more acute challenges, many felt that any disruption caused by the strikes was not much worse than a regular busy day in the NHS. Related to this and one point where there was substantial convergence was participants’ views of the NHS. Regardless of profession or whether they went on strike, and while all felt a great sense of pride working in the NHS, all saw the NHS as facing multiple and broad crises and the need for substantial reform.