🔗 Share this article

The British Medical Association (BMA) has raised an alarm against what it calls widespread "scaremongering" about the current flu outbreak, while its members decide on whether to carry out impending walkouts in England the coming week.

BMA Response to Ministerial Concerns

This follows after the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, expressed "very anxious" about the looming "combined impact" of rising numbers 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 "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," correspondence from the union noted.

Industrial Action Vote and Potential Timeline

The outcome of a members' referendum is expected on Monday. If it is rejected, a industrial action lasting five days will start on Wednesday.

Ministers argues its deal includes laws that prioritises British medical graduates for specialty training jobs starting next year and offers to subsidize training expenses.

However, the deal excludes 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 Attention on a Solution

In a statement, the BMA urged 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, recognizing that, should there be a strike, resident doctors may be required to return to work to "ensure safe patient care."

Political Response and Flu Statistics

Speaking to media, Mr. Streeting said the present circumstances was "probably the worst pressure the NHS has faced since Covid." He asked 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, health officials note it has arrived sooner than usual this winter. Around 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 start from 2021 and so do not capture the two worst flu seasons of the past 15 years.

In spite of the rising numbers, the senior doctor for the NHS in London said the flu situation was "under control" of what the NHS could handle and that hospitals were more ready for large disease outbreaks since the Covid pandemic.

The union 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 formal follow-up referendum would be held on resolving the dispute entirely.