As reported in the MEN the health system is already at crisis point due to winter illness and falls due to the cold snap.
Emergency wards are being stretched to breaking point with hospital bosses reporting up to a third more patients turning up at their A&E departments in recent weeks.
The number of emergency calls to the ambulance service in Greater Manchester was higher than New Year's Eve on just one day this month.
A total of 1,649 calls were made when the average for New Year's Eve is 1,500.
Now official flu figures are expected to show a further increase in the number of people infected.
Stretched
With most doctors surgeries closed for four days over Christmas experts fear medical services will be stretched even further.
Latest figures show the number of flu infections nationally running at 40 per 100,000 - the highest level at this time of the year since the winter of 2000-1 when flu rates reached epidemic proportions.
John Heyworth, president of the College of Emergency Medicine, said: "The system simply does not have enough capacity to cope with the pressure it is under, and we expect this to keep getting worse over Christmas, and then over the next three to four weeks."
He said the current pressures were very reminiscent of the crisis in the NHS over the millennium.
"What is really frustrating about this, is that these pressures are predictable. The reason the service struggles to cope is because the number of beds have been cut to a minimum."
Two hundred more people have been admitted to Salford Royal Hospital in the last two weeks compared to the same period last year.
The hospital treated an extra 28 per cent of patients in A&E in the first week of December. At Manchester Royal Infirmary an extra 566 were treated - up nine per cent on 2007.
Health bosses are trying to open more beds to ease the situation, including 36 at the Royal Bolton.
Meanwhile ambulance bosses say patients are having to wait longer for help as paramedics struggle to cope.
As reported in the MEN the national director for the ambulance service has already begged the public not to call 999 or visit A&E departments unless they have a genuine emergency - urging them to use NHS Direct, walk-in centres, or their pharmacy. Tweet
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Why don’t GP’s work over the Christmas period to relieve this problem? The NHS has repeatedly stated that people should consult their GP’s instead of attending A&E for none emergency matters.
What is it GP’s are reported to earn? £100k plus! Yet when they are needed, in the evening, at night and at times like this you can’t find one. Then again I suppose if you did find one it would mean you would have to wait two weeks for an appointment.
What is really concerning is that the NHS haven’t got a contingency plan for such situations. So what would they do in a case of pandemic when the situation will be 10 times worse?
Steve. Would you work over Christmas, GPs have Familys as well, Get Real Mate.
Steve is most likely to work over christmas Angela, like just about every one else. I get Christmas day off that's it. So why can't a doctors practice be covered the period.?
Mad Angela, Christmas Day is one day in the whole year so why can't doctors provide the cover for the public they serve on that day like they should all the other 364 days of the year? They are paid enough! And for your info both my wife and myself are working over Christmas and although I don't work for the health service my wife does providing cover for those doctors, who, it appears to have more of a right to have the Christmas period off than she does.
I don't understand why people panic that doctors aren't open over Christmas - our surgery is only closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but there will be a GP on call should you need it. We're also able to get appointments on the day - its actually harder to get an advance booking than on the day. Whats more, our practice is open late on Fridays and on Sat mornings, so there is no need to clog up A&E, and the GPs get their day off.
I work for a hospital in America, and a hospital can never close, but a doctors office can.. We have a skelton crew working, but I am off 5 days.. Ok I work for Adminstration, but all hospitals are urgent care and take care of people who's doctors office is closed.. I have 200 medical office and so far just one case of positive flu..
I can't say we are having a flu outbreak, today is christmas and it is 70 degrees here..
Judy in Texas