🔗 Share this article

The British Medical Association (BMA) has sounded a caution against what it calls public "fearmongering" concerning the ongoing flu outbreak, as its members vote on if they should proceed with planned strikes in England next week.

Union Response to Ministerial Concerns

This statement arrives after the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, expressed "deeply concerned" about the looming "double whammy" of soaring counts of flu patients in hospitals and the upcoming resident doctor strikes.

BMA resident doctors committee chair, Dr Jack Fletcher, said that while the union was not "minimizing" the impact 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 Schedule

The outcome of a members' referendum is due on Monday. If the offer is turned down, a week-long walkout will begin on Wednesday.

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

Yet, the deal excludes a pay rise. The Prime Minister has written that pay for resident doctors has risen by 28.9% over the past three years.

Appeals for Attention on a Solution

In a announcement, the BMA urged the health secretary to "concentrate 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, indicating that, should there be a strike, resident doctors may be asked to come back to work to "uphold safe patient care."

Political Reaction and Flu Data

Speaking to media, Mr. Streeting said the current situation was "perhaps the worst pressure the NHS has faced since Covid." He asked why the BMA hadn't accepted an offer to reschedule the industrial action to January.

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

Concerning the flu outbreak, health officials 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 highest for this time of year on record in 2021.

It is important to note, these records start from 2021 and so do not include the two worst flu seasons of the past 15 years.

In spite of the increasing figures, the senior doctor for the NHS in London said the flu situation was "well within the boundaries" of what the NHS could cope with and that hospitals were more ready 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 avert Wednesday's strikes. If members agree, a detailed vote would be held on resolving the dispute completely.