The health system is struggling to cope and ambulance services have had their busiest week in the past ten years, an NHS chief said yesterday.

Peter Bradley, the national director of ambulance services, said people should avoid calling 999 unless faced with an emergency because ambulances and hospital accident units were unable to keep up with demand.

Mr Bradley attributed the situation to the coldest start to winter for 30 years, causing a sharp increase in falls and breathing problems, combined with outbreaks of flu and the winter vomiting bug norovirus.

He warned that things would get worse with a rise in drink-related accidents over Christmas and New Year.

“It has been the most difficult ten days I have seen in the last ten years. It is absolutely horrendous,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“Hospitals are full and A&E departments are struggling. We have ambulances having to wait longer to offload patients and that is causing difficulties.

“The message is that the public really need to do their best to avoid using A&E and ambulance services unless it is a genuine emergency. Use walk-in centres, NHS Direct and pharmacies because the relentless increase in activity will not ease for the next few weeks,” he added.

Calls to the ambulance service normally peak over Christmas and New Year as the party season coincides with a rise in illness and health workers’ holidays.

Mr Bradley said some areas had seen a 30 per cent rise in calls over the past ten days.

Ambulance workers are being offered bonuses of between £300 and £800 if they agree to do additional overtime.

Other measures that have been taken include suspending meal breaks and drafting in private ambulance companies and the volunteer St John Ambulance service to help in some areas.

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