🔗 Share this article

The leading doctors' union has issued a warning against what it calls public "fearmongering" regarding the ongoing influenza outbreak, while its members vote on whether to carry out impending walkouts in England next week.

BMA Response to Ministerial Worries

This statement arrives after the Health Minister, Wes Streeting, stated he was "very anxious" about the potential "double whammy" 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 severity of flu, Mr. Streeting "must avoid 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 noted.

Industrial Action Ballot and Potential Timeline

The decision of a members' referendum is scheduled for Monday. If it is rejected, a five-day strike will start on Wednesday.

Ministers argues its deal includes measures that gives preference to British medical graduates for training posts starting next year and offers to pay for training expenses.

Yet, the deal omits a salary increase. The Prime Minister has written 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 called on 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 contacted chief executives of NHS Trusts in England, recognizing that, in the event of a strike, resident doctors may be required to return to work to "maintain safe patient care."

Political Response and Flu Statistics

Speaking to media, Mr. Streeting said the current situation 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 "irresponsible" 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. Approximately 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 start from 2021 and so do not include 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 "within manageable limits" of what the NHS could handle and that hospitals were more ready for large disease outbreaks since the Covid pandemic.

The union stated it will ask its members whether the government's latest offer will be enough to call off Wednesday's strikes. If members indicate yes, a second ballot would be held on ending the dispute entirely.