Strike action could collapse flu-hit NHS, says Streeting

Wes Streeting has expressed his “genuine fears” for the NHS if next week’s resident doctors’ strike goes ahead, warning that he could not guarantee the safety of patients during a severe rise in flu cases.

- MILLIE COOKE, HOLLY EVANS

The health secretary claimed flu is causing “probably the worst pressure the NHS has faced since Covid”, with the collapse of the health service at “one minute to midnight”.

Mr Streeting warned the numbers could triple by the peak and described the scenes in hospital as “inexcusable”, stressing that the strike action could be the “Jenga piece that collapses the tower”.

Despite new figures showing flu cases at a record level for this time of year after jumping 55 per cent in a week, the chair of the British Medical Association has denied that patients will be put at risk as a result of next week’s walkouts.

BMA chief Dr Tom Dolphin told The Independent the NHS is facing a “year-round” crisis that is not isolated to the winter, insisting that senior doctors would be able to be drafted in to cover for the absent resident doctors to keep patients safe.

The strike is expected to take place from 7am on 17 December until 22 December, after the union accused the government of failing to make “sufficient progress towards a viable deal on jobs and pay”.

But as flu cases surge in England, with an average of 2,660 flu patients in hospital each day last week, there are growing concerns over the health service’s ability to cope with the walkouts.

Taking aim at the BMA, Mr Streeting criticised the trade union for choosing to strike in December as “they know that this week will be most painful for the NHS”. Describing the situation as “pretty terrifying”, he told LBC: “So if you’ve got strikes and you've got flu and you’ve got all of these trolleys on corridors, and you’ve got demand going up rather than down, I just don’t think there is a lever I can pull, I don’t think there’s an amount of money I can throw, that means I can sit on your programme and guarantee patient safety over the next week.”