NO-ONE should be under any delusion about the current state of the NHS.

Our doctors and nurses in hospitals, GP surgeries and health centres are under massive strain trying to cope with record numbers of patients against a backdrop of mounting budget pressures.

That’s why it’s imperative we should always do our bit to help.

And that message is never so important as over the Christmas and New Year holiday when, traditionally, patient attendances rise still higher.

Already, health trust and Clinical Commissioning Groups in the Bradford district have joined forces to urge people to use their services properly.

They have also warned that people who turn up without good reason at Accident and Emergency departments in Bradford and Airedale will be “redirected to appropriate services”.

But even that takes up some valuable time which could be much better spent on treating genuine cases.

Therefore, it is essential that people use common sense when deciding whether an ailment or injury is so acute that it needs to be treated at an A&E department.

To continue to have a free, on-demand health service is a luxury the vast majority of countries will never be able to afford.

But we all need to use the NHS as wisely as we can so it can do what it was set up to do in helping those in most need.

To unnecessarily push it to breaking point suits the interests of none of us.