As the United Kingdom faces what officials are calling a "superflu" crisis, the National Health Service (NHS) teeters on the edge of unprecedented disruption. Resident doctors—formerly known as junior doctors—are poised to stage a five-day strike from 7am on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, to 7am on Monday, December 22, 2025, unless a last-minute deal is accepted. The British Medical Association (BMA), representing these doctors, is currently consulting its members via an online poll, which closes just two days before the industrial action is set to begin.
The situation is dire. According to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the NHS is at "one minute to midnight," warning in an interview with LBC on December 12 that the health service is closer than ever to collapse. Streeting did not mince words, stating, "I don't want to catastrophise or sensationalise, [but] I cannot sit here and look you in the eye and tell you that no patient will come to harm or fatal harm. I cannot make that guarantee." He described the prospect of a strike during this flu outbreak as "terrifying," both for NHS staff and the public.
The numbers are staggering. The UK is currently experiencing a major flu outbreak, with the number of people in hospital in England with flu jumping 55% in just a week. Last week, there were an average of 2,660 flu patients in hospital each day, up from 1,717 the previous week. For context, at this point last year, that number was 1,861; in 2023, it was only 402. The predominant strain this winter, the drifted H3N2, is particularly concerning. According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), this variant brings "less natural immunity in the community" and tends to hit older adults harder than previous strains, resulting in more hospitalizations and deaths.
Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS national medical director, described the ongoing situation as "a worst-case scenario for this time of year," noting that there is "no peak in sight." Hospitals across the country have responded by asking staff, patients, and visitors to wear face masks, and several have declared and then exited critical incident status due to overwhelming attendance at accident and emergency (A&E) departments.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer weighed in with a strongly worded op-ed in The Guardian, urging doctors to accept the government’s latest offer and avoid what he called "reckless" strikes. "They are reckless. They place the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger. I remain hopeful they can be averted. A good deal is on the table, and the British Medical Association (BMA) is putting it to members this weekend. My message to the doctors is simple – take it," Starmer wrote. He described the NHS as being in its "most precarious moment" since the coronavirus pandemic, emphasizing that the current "super flu" epidemic has created a "battle" in hospitals across the country.
Public sentiment appears to be against the strike. A recent YouGov poll found that 58% of those surveyed either somewhat or strongly oppose the industrial action, while only 33% support it. The prospect of a walkout during the peak of a flu epidemic has prompted widespread concern, with Streeting noting, "Patients are pleading with resident doctors not to abandon them this Christmas. With flu sweeping across the nation and the health service under enormous pressure, these cynical Christmas strikes are the very last thing the NHS needs." He continued, "People answer the call of medicine to help people, and this is the health service’s hour of need. I urge BMA resident doctors to vote yes to the comprehensive offer we have put to them this weekend which will halve competition ratios and put more money in their pocket. Please do the right thing and act in the best interests your own careers, patients and the whole NHS, and vote for this offer."
The government’s latest proposal to the BMA is multifaceted. It includes new legislation to ensure that UK-trained doctors in training have priority for specialty training roles, an increase in specialty training posts over the next three years (with 1,000 new posts starting in 2026), and funding for mandatory examination and royal college membership fees for resident doctors. The offer also gives doctors the chance to defer strikes until after Christmas if their mandate is extended, a move intended to buy time for further negotiations and, perhaps, for the flu crisis to subside.
However, the stakes are high. Streeting has made it clear that if the strikes go ahead as planned, the government’s offer will be withdrawn. "Not doing so would incentivise strikes," he argued. The backdrop to these negotiations is fierce competition for specialty training posts, with some areas like neurology seeing more than 20 applicants for each available position. The surge in applications, especially from foreign-trained doctors who are now placed on the same level as British-trained doctors, has not been matched by an increase in available posts. This mismatch has led to many doctors taking agency jobs to fill gaps, a practice that costs the NHS significantly more in the long run.
The looming strike would be the 14th by the union since March 2023, highlighting a persistent and unresolved dispute over pay and job prospects. The BMA’s online poll on the government’s offer is set to close on December 15, just 48 hours before the planned walkout. If members reject the deal, the five-day strike will proceed, potentially plunging the NHS into further chaos at a time when, as Starmer put it, "resident doctors’ colleagues will be cancelling operations, cancelling their Christmas leave and preparing for this coming storm."
For NHS staff, the decision is fraught with emotion and ethical complexity. Streeting likened the upcoming strikes to the "Jenga piece that collapses the tower" of the health service, underscoring just how precarious the situation has become. The government, meanwhile, insists that the current deal is generous and designed to address both immediate and long-term pressures on the system. But for many doctors, the issues of pay, job security, and working conditions remain unresolved, fueling frustration and a sense of being undervalued.
As the deadline for the BMA’s vote nears, the nation watches anxiously. The outcome will not only determine the immediate fate of the NHS during a historic flu outbreak but may also set the tone for labor relations in the health service for years to come.
The next few days will reveal whether compromise or confrontation will define this critical moment for Britain’s health system.
