UK health service hit by 'super flu' outbreak / Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS - AFP
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UK health service hit by 'super flu' outbreak
The UK is facing an "unprecedented wave of super flu", a health chief warned Friday as the health minister urged doctors to call off a threatened five-day strike ahead of Christmas.
Wes Streeting said the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) was in an "incredibly precarious situation" as flu cases mounted, and was facing a "challenge unlike any it has seen since the pandemic".
NHS figures published on Thursday showed flu cases at a record level for the time of year.
The number of cases jumped 55 percent in a week to an average of 2,660 patients in hospital each day last week.
"With record demand ... and an impending resident (junior) doctors strike, this unprecedented wave of super flu is leaving the NHS facing a worst-case scenario for this time of year," said NHS National Medical Director Meghana Pandit.
Streeting said the numbers could triple before the peak and said the situation in hospitals was already "inexcusable".
"That's why I am appealing directly to resident doctors to accept the government's offer," he wrote in The Times newspaper.
The functioning of the NHS is a major political issue in Britain, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer's beleaguered Labour government under pressure to bring down waiting times.
The planned strike from Wednesday will be the 14th walkout by medics since March 2023 if it goes ahead.
Attempts to reduce patient waiting lists have been affected in part by the repeated industrial action by both resident doctors and consultants.
The resident doctors -- those below consultant level -- are in dispute with the government over pay and a shortage of training opportunities.
Streeting has agreed to the doctors' union's demand that UK-trained medics get priority for training posts over candidates from overseas.
The number of training places will also be boosted.
But he insists the government "cannot and will not move on pay, especially not after a 28.9-percent pay rise over the last three years and the highest pay award across the entire public sector in the last two".
The British Medical Association, which represents resident doctors, is demanding an extra 26 percent it says is needed to achieve pay restoration after years of below inflation pay deals.
It is due to put the government's new deal to members in an online survey, which will close on Monday.
Z.Bianchi--IM
