Fury as doctors WILL go on strike despite horror ‘superflu’ putting NHS on brink
Wes Streeting has reacted to the doctors’ decision to go on strike (Image: Getty)
Strikes by resident doctors in England will go ahead as planned after members of the British Medical Association rejected a new offer from the Government, the union has said. Union members participated in an online poll over the weekend to determine whether the new deal was sufficient to call off the walkout.
The offer includes a fast expansion of specialist training posts as well as covering out-of-pocket expenses such as exam fees, but does not include extra pay. Members rejected the offer and as a result resident doctors will down their stethoscopes and stage a five-day strike starting at 7am on Wednesday. It comes amid warnings of a “super flu” sweeping the nation, with flu cases in hospitals in England at a record level for this time of year.
The five day strike will start at 7am on Wednesday (Image: Jeff Moore/PA)
Slamming the strikes, Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said “there is no justification for striking”, adding that the union is “abandoning” patients “in their hour of greatest need”.
His full comment read: “The BMA has chosen Christmas strikes to inflict damage on the NHS at the moment of maximum danger, refusing to postpone them until January to help patients and other NHS staff cope over Christmas.
“There is no need for these strikes to go ahead this week, and it reveals the BMA’s shocking disregard for patient safety and for other NHS staff. These strikes are self-indulgent, irresponsible, and dangerous.
“The government’s offer would have halved competition for jobs and put more money in resident doctors’ pockets, but the BMA has again rejected it because it doesn’t meet their ask of a further 26% pay rise.
“Resident doctors have already had a 28.9% pay rise – there is no justification for striking just because this fantasy demand has not been met.”
Flu cases in hospitals in England are at a record level for this time of year (Image: PA/PA Wire)
Issuing a plea, Mr Streeting added that his department and the NHS will now suffer “the double whammy of flu and strikes”.
He said: “I am appealing to ordinary resident doctors to go to work this week. There is a different magnitude of risk in striking at this moment.
“Abandoning your patients in their hour of greatest need goes against everything a career in medicine is meant to be about.
“The entire focus of my department and the NHS team will now be on getting the health service through the double whammy of flu and strikes.
“We have already vaccinated 17 million people – 170,000 more than last year – and we will be working intensively with frontline leaders to prepare for the coming disruption.”
It comes just days after NHS England warned that the health service is facing a “worst case scenario” December with a surge of “super flu”.
An average of 2,660 patients were in hospital per day with flu last week. It means there are enough flu patients each day to fill more than three whole hospital trusts.
This is the highest ever for this time of year and up 55% on last week. At this point last year, the number stood at 1,861 patients, while in 2023 it was just 402.
The number of norovirus patients in hospital beds has also risen by 35% – to an average of 354 each day last week – as winter viruses start to engulf hospitals.
