Hospitals have been told to free up their beds in the next two weeks in an attempt to head off an Easter bank holiday crisis in the NHS . GP surgeries have also been ordered to open on Easter Saturday to help take the strain from over-stretched A & E departments . Health officials anticipate that services already under pressure will struggle to keep up with demand this Easter . Hospitals have been warned to free up their beds over the next two weeks in an attempt to avert an Easter crisis in the NHS ( file image ) NHS England has drawn up emergency plans amid fears casualty departments will be unable to cope with high demand over the four-day break , which starts on April 3 , while staff numbers are low . As many patients as possible must be discharged from hospital in the next fortnight so casualty departments will not be over capacity before the start of the bank holiday . The warnings come after hospitals suffered one of the worst performances on record over the Christmas holidays . Waiting times in emergency departments are at a record high , partly because so many patients are unable to get an appointment with their GP . A memo from Barbara Hawkin , the NHS deputy chief executive , was sent out to all NHS trusts and groups of GPs . The unprecedented 11-point plan for GPs , hospitals and social services departments said it is ‘ critical ’ organisations have ‘ resilience plans ’ in order to cope with the mounting pressure . It means patients who go to A & E in desperation , because they are unable to get an appointment with a family doctor , will no longer clog up waiting times for emergency care . Over Christmas , 13 hospitals declared 'major incidents ' when A & E units shut their doors to seriously ill patients . Pictured are ambulances queuing up outside the Royal Blackburn Hospital in January . The NHS was plunged into crisis over Christmas when 13 hospitals declared ‘ major incidents ’ and A & E units shut their doors to paramedics trying to bring in seriously ill patients . ‘ Major incidents ’ mean the hospitals have put in place emergency measures usually reserved for mass casualties such as those seen after airline crashes or terrorist attacks . Figures showed waiting times in England were at their worst in a decade – and that in the last three months of 2014 almost 21,000 patients had languished on trolleys for up to 12 hours . In one shocking case , an 81-year-old grandmother who had fallen in her home had to wait 11 hours for an ambulance and then had another 60-minute wait on a trolley in a hospital corridor . Some patients reported having to ‘ fight ’ their way into casualty units packed like ‘ nightclubs ’ . It is feared that , with hospitals and GPs already struggling to meet targets , there could be another disastrous waiting time crisis this Easter . An NHS England spokesman said last night : ‘ While we are pleased to have come through a difficult period , now is a good time to reinforce our message that we are resolved to driving up performance in the coming weeks and throughout the year . ’
Hospitals have been told to free up their beds over the next two weeks . Comes in attempt to avert an Easter bank holiday crisis for the NHS . GP surgeries have been ordered to open on Easter Sunday to take strain . NHS England fear A & E departments will struggle over the four-day break . Comment: Warnings come after hospitals suffered their worst performances ever over Christmas .