RESIDENT doctors were last night branded “irresponsible and dangerous” for pressing ahead with a strike amid a superflu crisis.
The British Medical Association has refused to call off the five-day walkout starting tomorrow.
Militant union bosses said a last-gasp offer from Health Secretary Wes Streeting was “too little, too late” as 83 per cent of their members rejected it on a 65 per cent turnout.
They are demanding a 26 per cent pay rise on top of the 29 per cent salary increase granted in recent years.
Mr Streeting refused to budge on pay demands but last week offered to accelerate promotions and training places.
And yesterday he launched a blistering attack on the stubborn union for a “shocking disregard for patient safety” by inflicting industrial action at a moment of “maximum danger”.
The Health Secretary said: “These strikes are self-indulgent, irresponsible and dangerous. I’m appealing to resident doctors to go to work.
“There is a different magnitude of risk in striking now. Abandoning patients in their hour of greatest need goes against everything a career in medicine is about.”
Resident doctors are set to strike from 7am tomorrow — while the worst flu outbreak ever recorded in Britain cripples half of NHS trusts.
Last week, an average of 2,660 patients were in hospital with the bug each day — up 55 per cent from last week.
Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrew said: “We repeatedly warned Labour that by giving inflation-busting pay rises last year they would set a dangerous precedent.
“And now we see the consequences of their capitulation, with more disruption, more demands and no end in sight.”
