🔗 Share this article

The leading doctors' union has raised an alarm against what it calls public "fearmongering" concerning the ongoing influenza outbreak, as its members vote on if they should proceed with planned strikes in England the coming week.

Union Response to Government Concerns

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

The head of the BMA's resident doctors' group, Dr Jack Fletcher, remarked that while the union was not "minimizing" the severity 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," a letter from the union stated.

Industrial Action Ballot and Potential Timeline

The result of a BMA ballot is due on Monday. If it is rejected, a five-day strike will start on Wednesday.

Ministers states its offer includes measures that prioritises British medical graduates for training posts starting next year and offers to subsidize professional development costs.

However, the deal excludes a salary increase. Sir Keir Starmer has stated that pay for resident doctors has grown by 28.9% over the past three years.

Calls for Focus on a Deal

In a announcement, 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 written to chief executives of NHS Trusts in England, recognizing that, should there be a strike, resident doctors may be required to return to work to "maintain safe patient care."

Political Reaction and Flu Statistics

Speaking to media, Mr. Streeting said the current situation was "probably the worst pressure the NHS has faced since Covid." He questioned why the BMA hadn't accepted an offer to push the strike back to January.

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

Regarding the flu outbreak, experts 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 highest 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.

In spite of the rising numbers, the medical director for the NHS in London said the flu situation was "under control" of what the NHS could cope with 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 sufficient to avert Wednesday's strikes. Should members indicate yes, a second ballot would be held on ending the dispute entirely.