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The leading doctors' union has sounded a caution against what it calls widespread "alarmist rhetoric" about the current flu outbreak, while its members vote on the possibility of scheduled industrial action in England next week.

BMA Response to Government Worries

This comes after the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, stated he was "extremely worried" about the looming "combined impact" of increasing figures of flu patients in hospitals and the approaching junior doctor strikes.

BMA resident doctors committee chair, Dr Jack Fletcher, said that while the union was not "diminishing" the severity of flu, Mr. Streeting "must avoid 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 declared.

Industrial Action Ballot and Potential Timeline

The result of a union vote is due on Monday. If the offer is turned down, a week-long walkout will start on Wednesday.

The government says its deal includes laws that prioritises British medical graduates for specialty training jobs starting next year and offers to pay for exam fees.

However, the deal excludes a salary increase. Sir Keir Starmer has stated that pay for resident doctors has increased by 28.9% over the past three years.

Calls for Attention on a Solution

In a statement, the BMA called on 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 contacted chief executives of NHS Trusts in England, saying that, should there be a strike, resident doctors may be required to return to work to "uphold safe patient care."

Government Response and Flu Data

Speaking to media, Mr. Streeting said the current situation was "probably the worst pressure the NHS has faced since Covid." He asked why the BMA hadn't taken up 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 come early this winter. Approximately 2,660 patients per day were in hospital with flu in England last week – the greatest for this time of year on record 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 rising numbers, the medical director for the NHS in London said the flu situation was "well within the boundaries" of what the NHS could cope with and that hospitals were better prepared for large disease outbreaks since the Covid pandemic.

The BMA said it will ask its members whether the government's latest offer will be sufficient to call off Wednesday's strikes. If members agree, a detailed vote would be held on resolving the dispute entirely.