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Superflu is back, doctors are striking, and small businesses are left doing the juggling

ended 19. December 2025

If you run a small business, this is the bit of December where one person has “just a sniffle” and by Friday you’re running the place with half a team, a strong coffee, and pure stubbornness.

NHS England says the resident doctors’ strike runs from 7am Wednesday 17 December to 7am Monday 22 December 2025, and they’re warning disruption is likely. 

At the same time, they’re dealing with an early flu season and “record numbers” of patients in hospital with flu for this time of year. 

The Sun is even talking about fears of a “national emergency” as flu hospitalisations rise. 

Now here’s the bit that matters for planning: the UKHSA flu and COVID surveillance report (updated 18 December 2025) says flu is increasing at medium levels, and COVID is at baseline but with mixed trends, with COVID hospital admissions rising week on week in the latest data. 

Also, private COVID jabs are not cheap, and demand seems to be ramping up. Boots lists £98.95 per dose, Tesco says its private COVID service costs £90, and Pharmacy Magazine reported demand for private COVID vaccinations being over 400% higher than October 2024 (based on a Pharmadoctor partner pharmacy network). 

6 questions for small business owners

  • Are you already seeing more sickness than usual this December, or are you bracing for it?
  • When someone is ill, do you prefer they stay properly off, or do you allow lighter duties from home if they’re up to it?
  • What’s your biggest operational wobble point if several people go off at once (customer response times, deadlines, sales, production, service delivery)?
  • Why do you think flu feels so brutal this year (lower immunity, people skipping vaccines, a nastier strain, everyone’s run down, something else)? 
  • With private COVID jabs around £90 to £98.95, would you ever pay privately for yourself or staff, or is that a hard no? 
  • UKHSA’s report shows flu rising and COVID admissions edging up. What do you think government should do right now to stop this getting worse, rather than waiting months until it’s a full-blown mess? 

Sources 

The Sun article: https://www.thesun.co.uk/health/37672317/superflu-symptom-surge-england-christmas/    

NHS England strike and winter pressure update (17 Dec 2025): https://www.england.nhs.uk/2025/12/nhs-urges-patients-to-access-care-and-get-vaccinated-amid-new-doctors-strike-and-high-flu-cases/  

UKHSA national flu and COVID surveillance report (11 Dec 2025, updated 18 Dec 2025): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2025-to-2026-season/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-report-11-december-2025-week-50  

Boots private COVID vaccination price: https://www.boots.com/online/pharmacy-services/covid-19-vaccination-service 

Tesco private COVID vaccination price: https://www.tescoplc.com/tesco-reminds-eligible-customers-of-their-free-winter-flu-jab-service-to-protect-themselves-and-their-families-this-winter/ 

Pharmacy Magazine report referencing private COVID demand: https://www.pharmacymagazine.co.uk/business-news/demand-for-private-flu-jabs-up-300-as-health-bodies-issue-sos 

 

2 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Kate Underwood
Founder & Chief People Strategist at Kate Underwood HR and Training
Write your own winter survival plan, because we all know how ‘on it’ the government is with fast decisions. Assume sickness will spike. Assume NHS delays. Assume you will be short-staffed at the worst moment.
My SME survival plan:
1. Set the rule: properly ill means properly off. No guilt. No hero medals.
2. Agree on what can be done from home if someone is up to it. Optional, not expected.
3. Cross-train now. Two people who can cover each key task, minimum.
4. Triage the work: what must happen, what can wait, what gets binned first.
5. Short customer script ready: “We’re running reduced cover this week. Here’s what we can do and by when.”
6. Self-certify reminder: first 7 days. Stop chasing GP notes like they’re golden tickets. And don’t get me started on fit notes.
Tip: put it in writing and stick to it. Consistency stops arguments and tribunals.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
The government acts surprised by flu season the same way some landlords act surprised by winter boiler breakdowns. Both happen every single year, and both require planning that extends beyond hoping for the best.

What really sticks in my throat is the language around this crisis. They're calling it "super flu" when it's just H3N2 that started spreading in November instead of January. Meanwhile, small businesses like mine have learned to plan for seasonal disruption or we simply go bust. The health service instead gets taxpayer bailouts and press conferences about unprecedented challenges. Flu hospitalisations are up 18%, but that's from a system already running beyond capacity.

The real scandal isn't about the doctors' pay and strike, but rather that after decades of winter pressure warnings, we still can't manage predictable seasonal illness without declaring states of emergency and blaming everyone except the people who designed a system with no slack.