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The leading doctors' union has raised an alarm against what it calls public "fearmongering" regarding the current influenza outbreak, while its members vote on if they should proceed with impending walkouts in England the coming week.

BMA Response to Government Concerns

This comes after the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, stated he was "very anxious" about the potential "double whammy" of increasing figures of flu patients in hospitals and the approaching junior doctor strikes.

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

"As doctors, we at the BMA wish to ensure that patients remain safe," correspondence from the union stated.

Industrial Action Ballot and Possible Schedule

The decision of a union vote is due on Monday. If it is rejected, a week-long walkout will start on Wednesday.

Ministers says its deal includes legislation that gives preference to British medical graduates for training posts starting next year and offers to pay for professional development costs.

Yet, the deal omits a salary increase. The Prime Minister has stated that pay for resident doctors has increased by 28.9% over the past three years.

Appeals for Attention on a Deal

In a release, the BMA appealed to 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 written to chief executives of NHS Trusts in England, saying that, should there be a strike, resident doctors may be required to return to work to "ensure safe patient care."

Government Response and Influenza 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 accepted an offer to push the strike back to January.

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

Regarding the flu outbreak, experts 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 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.

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

The BMA indicated it will ask its members whether the government's latest offer will be enough to avert Wednesday's strikes. If members indicate yes, a second ballot would be held on ending the dispute for good.