🔗 Share this article

The leading doctors' union has sounded a caution against what it calls widespread "alarmist rhetoric" about the current influenza outbreak, while its members vote on the possibility of planned strikes in England next week.

BMA Response to Government Concerns

This statement arrives after the Health Minister, Wes Streeting, stated he was "extremely worried" about the potential "one-two punch" of increasing figures of flu patients in hospitals and the approaching resident doctor strikes.

The head of the BMA's resident doctors' group, Dr Jack Fletcher, remarked that while the union was not "diminishing" the severity of flu, Mr. Streeting "ought not to 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 declared.

Strike Ballot and Potential Timeline

The decision of a members' referendum is scheduled for Monday. If the offer is turned down, a industrial action lasting five days will start on Wednesday.

The government says its proposal includes laws that gives preference to British medical graduates for specialty training jobs starting next year and offers to cover the costs exam fees.

However, the deal does not include a wage hike. Sir Keir Starmer has commented 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 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 union has also contacted 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 Data

Speaking to 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 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 vulnerable moment since the pandemic."

Concerning the flu outbreak, experts 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 only date back to 2021 and so do not include the two worst flu seasons of the past 15 years.

In spite of the increasing figures, the medical director for the NHS in London said the flu situation was "within manageable limits" of what the NHS could cope with and that hospitals were better prepared 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 call off Wednesday's strikes. Should members indicate yes, a formal follow-up referendum would be held on ending the dispute entirely.