Health secretary slams doctors’ strike amid flu

The health secretary has blasted doctors as “self-indulgent” and “dangerous” after they voted to push ahead with a five-day strike in the run-up to Christmas.

- Kate Devlin, The Independent

The British Medical Association's (BMA) resident doctor members roundly rejected a last-minute offer from Wes Streeting to halt the walkout, with medics set to join the picket lines on Wednesday from 7am. The move prompted warnings of a “very difficult Christmas” for the NHS amid fears the strike will put patients at risk due to a surge in cases of “superflu” sweeping the nation. Flu cases in hospitals in England are at a record level for this time of year.

The prime minister said he was “gutted” by the news as he joined Mr Streeting in appealing to doctors to ignore their union and go to work this week anyway, warning they were losing the public's sympathy over the dispute. Mr Streeting warned that the dates, just before the Christmas bank holidays, represented a “different magnitude of risk” to previous industrial action. He accused the BMA of choosing the timing to “inflict damage on the NHS at the moment of maximum danger” and hit out at their refusal to postpone until January.