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The British Medical Association (BMA) has raised an alarm against what it calls widespread "fearmongering" concerning the ongoing influenza outbreak, while its members consider if they should proceed with impending walkouts in England the coming week.

BMA Response to Ministerial Concerns

This follows after the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, stated he was "deeply concerned" about the potential "combined impact" 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, remarked that while the union was not "diminishing" the severity of flu, Mr. Streeting "should not 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 noted.

Strike Vote and Potential Schedule

The decision of a union vote is due on Monday. If the offer is turned down, a industrial action lasting five days will begin on Wednesday.

The government says its deal includes legislation that gives preference to British medical graduates for specialty training jobs starting next year and offers to pay for training expenses.

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

Calls for Attention on a Solution

In a announcement, 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 BMA has also written to chief executives of NHS Trusts in England, indicating that, in the event of a strike, resident doctors may be called in to work to "maintain safe patient care."

Government Reaction and Influenza 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 reschedule the industrial action to January.

Repeating 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. Around 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 start from 2021 and so do not capture 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 "under control" of what the NHS could cope with and that hospitals were better prepared for large disease outbreaks since the Covid pandemic.

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