FLU has started to tighten its grip on East Lancashire - and the worst is yet to come, a health expert warned today.

Public health officials have predicted that cases of flu - which have already put extreme pressure on hospital beds, GP surgeries and other health services - will peak over the next three weeks.

And Dr Stephen Morton, East Lancashire's public health director, said flu cases would continue to rise.

The latest figures show that the number of cases of people with flu in the UK doubled between December 23 and December 30 compared to the previous year.

Dr Morton said the national increase had been mirrored in East Lancashire.

Medics at Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust said today there were only between 30 and 40 empty beds.

Rob Bellingham, the trust's director of corporate development, said: "Admissions are running higher than normal and currently there are about 40 or more admissions per day. "We have a number of contingency plans and on New Year's Eve we had 80 empty beds and now there are between 30 and 40 available beds.

"Flu is a factor as are other viruses that are around at the moment. It is very busy, but the staff are working very hard to ensure patients get the best care."

A spokesman for Burnley Health Care Trust said: "It's been very, very busy over the holiday period but the situation has been manageable.

"There has been a lot of chest-related problems but it's not clear how many are related to the flu. It's not been any worse than expected for this time of the year."

NHS Direct, the nurse-led telephone advice service, had a record holiday period, particularly on Boxing Day and December 27, when more than 1,000 calls were received at its Lancashire call centre - three times the usual number.

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