🔗 Share this article

The leading doctors' union has raised an alarm against what it calls widespread "scaremongering" regarding the current flu outbreak, as its members decide on if they should proceed with planned strikes in England next week.

Union Reaction to Ministerial Concerns

This statement arrives after the Health Minister, Wes Streeting, expressed "deeply concerned" about the looming "one-two punch" of soaring counts of flu patients in hospitals and the approaching junior doctor strikes.

BMA resident doctors committee chair, Dr Jack Fletcher, said that while the union was not "downplaying" the impact of flu, Mr. Streeting "should not be scaremongering the public into thinking that the NHS will not be able to look after them."

"In our role as physicians, we at the BMA wish to ensure that patients remain safe," correspondence from the union declared.

Industrial Action Vote and Possible Timeline

The result of a union vote is expected on Monday. Should members vote no, a five-day strike will begin on Wednesday.

Ministers states its deal includes laws that gives preference to British medical graduates for training posts starting next year and offers to pay for exam fees.

But, the deal excludes a wage hike. Sir Keir Starmer has written that pay for resident doctors has grown by 28.9% over the past three years.

Appeals for Attention on a Deal

In a announcement, the BMA appealed to the health secretary to "focus his time and attention on offering a deal that will stop next week's strikes going ahead, rather than making claims that strike action could cause the NHS to collapse."

The BMA has also written to chief executives of NHS Trusts in England, saying that, in the event of a strike, resident doctors may be required to return to work to "uphold safe patient care."

Government Reaction and Flu Statistics

Speaking to media, Mr. Streeting said the present circumstances was "perhaps the worst pressure the NHS has faced since Covid." He questioned why the BMA hadn't taken up an offer to push the strike back to January.

Echoing the health secretary, the prime minister said the "reckless" strikes "ought not to go ahead" while the NHS is facing its "most precarious moment since the pandemic."

Concerning the flu outbreak, experts note it has arrived sooner than usual this winter. An average of 2,660 patients per day were in hospital with flu in England last week – the greatest for this time of year on record in 2021.

However, these records only date back to 2021 and so do not include the two worst flu seasons of the past 15 years.

Despite the rising numbers, the senior doctor for the NHS in London said the flu situation was "within manageable limits" of what the NHS could handle and that hospitals were better prepared for large disease outbreaks since the Covid pandemic.

The BMA said it will ask its members whether the government's latest offer will be enough to call off Wednesday's strikes. If members agree, a detailed vote would be held on resolving the dispute entirely.