Doctors’ representatives have accused Wes Streeting of “scaremongering”, after he warned that strikes before Christmas could push the NHS to collapse as it grapples with an outbreak of flu.

In an indication that they plan to press on with devastating strike action, the British Medical Association (BMA) claimed the health secretary had acted in a “cruel and calculated” way and described a government offer intended to avert walkouts in the coming days as “poor”.

Mr Streeting had said in a broadcast round on Friday that he “could not guarantee patients would not come to harm” if resident doctors went ahead with their plan to go on strike in the middle of a major outbreak of flu.

He had offered to extend their mandate for strike action to allow doctors to go on strike in the new year instead but this had fallen on deaf ears.

The Health Secretary has urged resident doctors to call off walkouts in the run-up to Christmas (Yui Mok/PA)

Instead the BMA, which is pushing for an eyewatering 29 per cent pay rise for its members, appears to be ready to heap pressure on the NHS as it faces a crisis.

Strikes will take place for five consecutive days from 7am on December 17, unless resident doctors who are members of the union vote in favour of the deal.

In a new statement on Saturday, the BMA’s resident doctors committee chairman, Dr Jack Fletcher, said: “It is horrible for anyone to be suffering with flu, we are not diminishing the impact of that, but Mr Streeting should not be scaremongering the public into thinking that the NHS will not be able to look after them and their loved ones.”

He said the health secretary was “laying the blame for the failings of the NHS to cope with an outbreak of flu at the feet of resident doctors and yet he is strangely reluctant to turn that concern into action and come to the negotiating table”.

He added: “What is cruel and calculated is the way in which the Health Secretary fails to have any engagement with us outside strikes and then comes to us with an offer he knows is poor and expects us to just accept it within 24 hours.”

BMA chiefDr Tom Dolphin told The Independent that the NHS is facing a “year-round” crisis that is not isolated to the winter, insisting that senior doctors would be able to be drafted in to cover for the absent resident doctors to keep patients safe.

Addressing the winter flu crisis, he said: “On strike days, the hospitals arrange for senior doctors to cover for the absent resident doctors.

Resident doctors are set to strike over Christmas (PA) (PA Wire)

“Sometimes they’ll get people to come do that as extra shifts in their own time and sometimes they’ll redeploy people from doing planned care – care that can be postponed if the hospitals think that there is a need for extra staff … So the same model that has worked for all the previous strikes to keep patients safe will apply.”

He added: “They may need to do more of it, but the principle is still there, and it still keeps patients safe.”

But Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, warned that the “tidal wave of flu” facing the NHS means the health service needs “all-hands on deck to look after a huge number of patients”.

And Dr Jeanette Dickson, chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AOMRC) said she is “concerned about the impact on patients of a further five days of industrial action at this critical time of year”, with the organisation pointing out that there are “10 times more patients in hospital beds with flu than there were at the same time two years ago”.

The government has said a further pay increase is off the negotiating table after resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, received pay rises totalling nearly 30 per cent in the past three years.

Polling suggests public support for strikes is low, with a new YouGov survey showing 58 per cent of respondents either somewhat or strongly oppose the industrial action while 33 per cent somewhat or strongly support it.

But the BMA’s words are also a slap in the face for Sir Keir Starmer.

Writing in The Guardian, the prime minister said the strikes were “reckless” and “beyond belief” as the NHS grapples with an outbreak of what experts say is a new mutated form of flu.

Ministers have said the latest offer to the BMA gives them the chance to defer strikes until after Christmas.

Figures published on Thursday showed flu cases at a record level for the time of year after jumping 55 per cent in a week to an average 2,660 patients in hospital each day last week.

Mr Streeting earlier said the health service is facing “probably worst pressure” since Covid and urged resident doctors to accept the deal.

“The whole NHS team is working around the clock to keep the show on the road. But it’s an incredibly precarious situation,” he wrote in the Times.

“Christmas strikes could be the Jenga piece that collapses the tower.”

The BMA’s online poll will close on Monday, just two days before the five-day strike is due to start.