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Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has voiced serious fears that he will not be able to assure safe care within the National Health Service if an impending strike by resident doctors in England goes ahead while services are under severe pressure from a particularly aggressive strain of flu.

A 'Double Whammy' of Pressure

In a radio interview, Streeting described the current flu outbreak as placing the NHS under the worst pressure it has faced since the Covid-19 pandemic. He stated that even without industrial action, the situation would be "extremely worrying."

However, the combination of the flu surge and the planned strikes creates what he termed a "double whammy," leading to a scenario he characterised as "perilous."

"What truly concerns me is that, regardless of whether I allocate additional funds to this situation at this moment, to get through the next week during industrial action, there’s only a limited supply of doctors and staff," Streeting said.

"There’s only a finite number of care home beds and community health services. 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."

He described this position as "deeply alarming," not only for himself but for the frontline NHS staff who would bear the brunt of the crisis.

Strike Mandate Offer Rejected

Streeting revealed that his concern was so great that he had proposed extending the British Medical Association's (BMA) strike mandate to allow action in January, arguing this would be "less risky" to a strike in the pre-Christmas period. He stated that this offer was refused by the doctors' union, a decision he said he "found inexplicable" given the risks to patients.

When asked to metaphorically gauge how close the NHS was to collapse, with "midnight" representing a total breakdown, Streeting responded that he "would say that."

Amidst Ongoing Disputes

The warning comes amidst ongoing tensions between the government and the BMA over pay and conditions for junior doctors. Streeting also addressed his past criticism of the union, stating that while he was previously angered by their opposition to certain policies, he now "wishes to retract some of his language" and wants to "turn over a new leaf" in relations in the new year.

He reiterated government proposals aimed at addressing junior doctors' concerns, including plans to introduce emergency legislation to prioritise UK medical graduates for specialty training places and create thousands of additional training posts.

The health secretary's stark assessment underscores the fragile condition of health services as they confront simultaneous challenges of seasonal illness, high demand, and potential widespread industrial action.