🔗 Share this article

The leading doctors' union has issued a warning against what it calls widespread "fearmongering" about the current flu outbreak, while its members decide on the possibility of impending walkouts in England next week.

BMA Reaction to Government Concerns

This follows after the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, expressed "very anxious" about the potential "combined impact" of soaring counts of flu patients in hospitals and the upcoming junior doctor strikes.

The head of the BMA's resident doctors' group, Dr Jack Fletcher, said that while the union was not "diminishing" the impact of flu, Mr. Streeting "ought not to be scaremongering the public into thinking that the NHS will not be able to look after them."

"As doctors, we at the BMA wish to ensure that patients remain safe," correspondence from the union stated.

Industrial Action Vote and Potential Timeline

The decision of a BMA ballot is scheduled for Monday. Should members vote no, a five-day strike will begin on Wednesday.

Ministers argues its proposal includes legislation that gives preference to British medical graduates for training posts starting next year and offers to pay for exam fees.

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

Calls for Focus on a Solution

In a release, the BMA appealed to the health secretary to "devote his efforts 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 union has also notified chief executives of NHS Trusts in England, indicating that, in the event of a strike, resident doctors may be required to return to work to "maintain safe patient care."

Political Response and Influenza Statistics

In an interview with 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 "should not happen" while the NHS is facing its "most vulnerable moment since the pandemic."

Regarding the flu outbreak, health officials note it has come early 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 since records began in 2021.

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

Despite the increasing figures, the medical director for the NHS in London said the flu situation was "under control" of what the NHS could manage and that hospitals were more ready for large disease outbreaks since the Covid pandemic.

The BMA stated it will ask its members whether the government's latest offer will be enough to cancel Wednesday's strikes. Should members vote in favor, a detailed vote would be held on ending the dispute completely.