Starmer: Doctors’ strikes as NHS battles flu ‘epidemic’ would be ‘beyond belief’

Sir Keir Starmer has urged resident doctors to accept a deal to avert “reckless” strikes planned for next week, saying it is “beyond belief” that they could go ahead while the NHS is in the grip of a “super flu” outbreak.

The Prime Minister said the NHS is in its “most precarious moment” since the coronavirus pandemic as figures showed flu cases are at a record level for the time of year.

Sir Keir wrote in an op-ed for The Guardian that the strikes planned for next week “should not happen”.

“They are reckless.

“They place the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger.

“I remain hopeful they can be averted.

“A good deal is on the table, and the British Medical Association (BMA) is putting it to members this weekend.

“My message to the doctors is simple – take it,” he wrote.

Members of the union are currently voting on a new offer from the Government which could put a stop to the walkout.

However, if medics vote against the deal, strikes will take place for five consecutive days from 7am on December 17.

The latest offer to the BMA gives them the chance to defer strikes until after Christmas, Sir Keir said.

“We offered them the chance to extend their mandate so strikes could be rescheduled for after Christmas if our offer was rejected.”

He said he would of course prefer that strikes were cancelled altogether but that given the current circumstances he wanted to leave “no stone unturned in our efforts to protect the NHS”.

He added: “Because be under no illusions, those circumstances are potentially dire.

“The ‘super flu’ epidemic now sweeping the country means this is the NHS’s most precarious moment since the pandemic.”

He said this means a “battle” in hospitals across the country where NHS staff will work around the clock to make sure the health service can cope.

“In fact, resident doctors’ colleagues will be cancelling operations, cancelling their Christmas leave and preparing for this coming storm.

“The idea that strikes could still take place in this context is frankly beyond belief,” he wrote.

Public support for the strikes is low, according to a new YouGov poll, with 58% of those asked either somewhat or strongly opposing the industrial action while 33% somewhat or strongly support it.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Patients are pleading with resident doctors not to abandon them this Christmas.

“With flu sweeping across the nation and the health service under enormous pressure, these cynical Christmas strikes are the very last thing the NHS needs.

“People answer the call of medicine to help people, and this is the health service’s hour of need.

“I urge BMA resident doctors to vote yes to the comprehensive offer we have put to them this weekend which will halve competition ratios and put more money in their pocket.

“Please do the right thing and act in the best interests your own careers, patients and the whole NHS, and vote for this offer.”

The BMA’s online poll for the Government’s deal will close on Monday, just two days before the five-day strike is set to start.