The UK is facing an “unprecedented wave of super flu”, a health chief warned on 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.
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The number of cases jumped 55 per cent 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.
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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.