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The leading doctors' union has sounded a caution against what it calls public "alarmist rhetoric" about the present influenza outbreak, as its members decide on if they should proceed with impending walkouts in England next week.

BMA Response to Government Concerns

This statement arrives after the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, expressed "very anxious" about the looming "double whammy" 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 "minimizing" the impact of flu, Mr. Streeting "ought not to be scaremongering the public into thinking that the NHS will not be able to look after them."

"In our role as physicians, we at the BMA wish to ensure that patients remain safe," correspondence from the union noted.

Industrial Action Ballot and Possible Timeline

The decision of a BMA ballot is due on Monday. If it is rejected, a five-day strike will commence on Wednesday.

The government says its deal includes laws that prioritises British medical graduates for specialty training jobs starting next year and offers to cover the costs professional development costs.

But, the deal does not include a wage hike. Sir Keir Starmer has written that pay for resident doctors has risen by 28.9% over the past three years.

Appeals for Focus on a Deal

In a statement, the BMA urged the health secretary to "focus his time and attention 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, in the event of a strike, resident doctors may be required to return to work to "uphold safe patient care."

Political Reaction and Flu Statistics

Speaking to media, Mr. Streeting said the present circumstances was "probably the worst pressure the NHS has faced since Covid." He questioned why the BMA hadn't taken up an offer to reschedule the industrial action to January.

Repeating the health secretary, the prime minister said the "irresponsible" strikes "ought not to go ahead" while the NHS is facing its "most precarious moment since the pandemic."

Concerning the flu outbreak, experts note it has arrived sooner than usual this winter. An average of 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 start from 2021 and so do not capture the two worst flu seasons of the past 15 years.

In spite of the rising numbers, the medical director for the NHS in London said the flu situation was "under control" of what the NHS could cope with and that hospitals were better prepared for large disease outbreaks since the Covid pandemic.

The union stated it will ask its members whether the government's latest offer will be enough to cancel Wednesday's strikes. If members vote in favor, a formal follow-up referendum would be held on ending the dispute for good.