🔗 Share this article

The British Medical Association (BMA) has sounded a caution against what it calls widespread "alarmist rhetoric" regarding the current influenza outbreak, as its members consider whether to carry out impending walkouts in England the coming week.

BMA Reaction to Government Worries

This statement arrives after the Health Minister, Wes Streeting, expressed "very anxious" about the potential "one-two punch" of increasing figures of flu patients in hospitals and the upcoming junior doctor strikes.

The head of the BMA's resident doctors' group, Dr Jack Fletcher, stated that while the union was not "diminishing" the impact 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," correspondence from the union stated.

Industrial Action Ballot and Potential Timeline

The result of a members' referendum is scheduled for Monday. Should members vote no, a week-long walkout will commence on Wednesday.

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

But, the deal does not include a wage hike. Sir Keir Starmer has commented that pay for resident doctors has increased by 28.9% over the past three years.

Calls for Attention on a Deal

In a release, 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 notified chief executives of NHS Trusts in England, indicating that, should there be a strike, resident doctors may be called in to work to "uphold safe patient care."

Government Response and Influenza Data

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.

Repeating the health secretary, the prime minister said the "irresponsible" strikes "should not happen" 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. 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 only date back to 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 said it will ask its members whether the government's latest offer will be enough to call off Wednesday's strikes. Should members vote in favor, a detailed vote would be held on resolving the dispute completely.