Doctors would be ‘irresponsible’ to plough ahead with next week’s strike while the NHS is being battered by record levels of super-flu, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The Prime Minister urged medics to call off their five-day walkout as health leaders warned the ‘double-whammy’ of a flu outbreak and industrial action left them facing a ‘worst case scenario’ in the run-up to Christmas.
Hospitals are struggling under a ‘relentless strain’, with a record number of flu patients on wards for this time of year and a further influx expected over the weekend.
Health secretary Wes Streeting described the outbreak as a ‘tidal wave of flu tearing through our hospitals’, with an average of 2,660 infected patients on wards each day last week, up 55 per cent from the previous week.
At this point last year the number stood at 1,861 patients, while in 2023 it was just 402.
Officials are expecting rates to pass the all-time high of 5,441 within days and to rise further still – fuelled by a mutated strain of influenza and damp weather, which is providing ‘perfect’ spreading conditions.
Professor Meghana Pandit, national medical director at NHS England, said: ‘This unprecedented wave of super flu is leaving the NHS facing a worst-case scenario for this time of year – with staff being pushed to the limit to keep providing the best possible care for patients.
‘The numbers of patients in hospital with flu is extremely high for this time of year.
‘Even worse, it continues to rise and the peak is not in sight yet, so the NHS faces an extremely challenging few weeks ahead.’
It comes ahead of a potentially devastating walkout by resident doctors, which is planned to start at 7am on Wednesday.
The medics – previously known as junior doctors – are demanding a 26 per cent pay rise on top of the 28.9 per cent uplift they have pocketed over the past three years.
Mr Streeting is clinging on to hope that the British Medical Association may call off the strike after it agreed to survey members on an improved offer, which includes the creation of more specialist training places, priority access to these places for UK graduates and help with exam fees.
But Dr Shivam Sharma, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors’ committee, told Times Radio he finds it ‘difficult to see members accepting this offer’ because there is no further movement on pay.
The ballot will close on Monday, with the union proposing to abort the industrial action and hold a formal ballot on ending the dispute if members vote in favour of the improved package.
If they reject the offer, the walkout will continue as planned, angering managers, who have described the timing of the industrial action as ‘cruel and calculated’ and intended to cause ‘mayhem’ at such a perilous time.
The NHS is typically busier at this time of year as it faces higher levels of staff sickness and holiday and a surge in demand from patients struck down by flu and other seasonal illnesses.
Sir Keir added: ‘I’m very concerned with the action of the BMA. They are being irresponsible in my view. We have already put in place quite a significant pay rise.
‘There are other issues that they’re concerned about, which we’ve been listening to, and we put an offer on the table to deal with those issues, but that offer can only go forward if they don’t take strike action, particularly in the run-up to Christmas, particularly when we’ve got a problem with flu.
‘It’d be irresponsible with BMA to push through, and I think for many resident doctors, I think in their heart of hearts, they probably don’t want to do this.
‘So I’d just say to the BMA, do the responsible thing, accept the offer that’s on the table, and we can all move forward.
‘Because at the moment, this is a challenge, not only to the winter, but also the good work we’ve done in bringing down waiting times, which is in everybody’s interests.’
Dr Vicky Price, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said the ‘flu-nami’ was hitting the NHS but this was ‘a sadly familiar picture of a system under relentless strain’.
She added: ‘This week we have seen clinicians reviewing patients in waiting rooms due to lack of space, and cupboards used as temporary clinical areas – a new low for patient care standards.’
Corridor care is now so endemic that NHS England today issued new guidance for clinicians on how to deliver it as safely as possible and produced a letter for doctors and nurses to give to patients explaining why they were being cared for on a trolley in a corridor, rather than in a bed on a ward.
Some hospitals across the country have asked staff, patients and visitors to wear face masks to cut the spread of flu, while others have gone in and out of critical incident status due to the high number of people attending A&E.
NHS England is advising people to get a flu vaccine as soon as possible to ensure they are protected in time for Christmas and New Year.
But Janet Morrison, chief executive of Community Pharmacy England, admitted some pharmacies are struggling to obtain supplies.
She added: ‘Community pharmacies are busy vaccinating as many people as possible, but with a late surge in the number of people seeking flu jabs, people may need to wait a little longer than usual to secure an appointment.
‘While we have had some isolated reports of pharmacies struggling to obtain flu vaccination supplies, this seems to be very dependent on location; some supplies still appear to be available in some locations, and all pharmacies will be working hard to source extra stock if they need it.’
The Liberal Democrats said the NHS should start to offer flu jabs in pubs, churches and supermarkets to increase uptake during the ‘flu emergency’.
The UK Health Security Agency said there is ‘less natural immunity in the community’ to the predominant strain of flu that is circulating this winter but the vaccine being used is effectively protecting against it.
Hospital admission rates for flu in England are highest among people over 75 and children under five but children aged five to 14 are most likely to test positive for the virus, with positivity rates of 45.9 per cent compared with 21 per cent for the wider population, the agency added.
Meanwhile, new figures show the waiting list for planned hospital treatment in England rose slightly to 7.40million at the end of October, up from 7.39million at the end of September, despite there being no doctors strikes that month and in a blow to Labour’s promise to cut waits.
