Crisis measures are being taken in Bradford to prevent a breakdown in emergency health services over New Year.

Urgent talks held by health bosses from across West Yorkshire yesterday agreed a package of measures to alleviate pressure on health services which were stretched to breaking point over Christmas.

Ambulance crews faced as many as three times the usual number of calls while staff in casualty at Bradford Royal Infirmary dealt with numbers a third up on usual. Enormous strains were put on the main out-of-hours GP deputising service covering 300,000 patients in Bradford, with many callers, often suffering flu-like symptoms, unable to get through or facing massive delays to see doctors.

Now people are being warned of delays likely to occur over New Year in on-call medical services amid fears there will be no let-up in demand in coming days.

Health bosses say all calls will be answered eventually and visits made if necessary.

Life-threatening emergencies will be treated as a priority by the ambulance service but other callers are being told they will have to wait longer.

Family doctors are also being asked to open their surgeries on Saturday morning to relieve pressure on other health services.

Bradford's deputy director of public health, Dr Liz Kernohan, appealed to people to think carefully before calling a doctor over the holiday.

"We would ask people to be careful about how they use the health service and bear in mind the most urgent cases must be treated first.

"People may have to wait longer than usual, especially during a holiday period and when there are a large number of virus cases around."

Healthcall, the deputising service covering 184 GPs in Bradford, is working with GPs to make sure the service is maintained. In Keighley an extra doctor will be on duty at the Worth Valley GP Emergency Centre.

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