IT is not too late to get a flu jab to keep yourself in good shape during winter.

That is the message from Bury health bosses who want vulnerable people to step forward for the jabs.

It comes a week after medical chiefs urged people not to go to Fairfield or North Manchester General hospitals' accident and emergency departments unless they absolutely needed to.

A major problems hospitals face at this time of year is that people go into hospital when flu conditions get worse, taking up beds that A&E patients need and causing the kind of patient backlog seen at those two hospitals last week.

Bury Clinical Commission Group (CCG) chairman, Dr Kiran Patel, said: "We are now starting to see an increase in patients being diagnosed with flu and several have required a stay in hospital.

“We have seen a number of cases that could have been prevented by this year's vaccine, so it's really important that those people at risk think about getting protected as soon as possible."

Groups who can get the flu jab include people living with long-term health conditions and their carers and pregnant women.

A CCG spokesman said: "If you are otherwise healthy, you will usually recover from flu within a week.

"However, certain people are more likely to develop potentially serious complications of flu, such as bronchitis and pneumonia and it is these people who are advised to have a flu jab each year.

"Some children and people aged 65 and over are also eligible to receive the flu vaccination for free from their GP Practice.

"The flu vaccination is offered to people in at-risk groups, as they are at a greater risk of developing serious complications from flu.

"Eligible children include those over the age of six months with a long-term health condition and, as part of the NHS Childhood Vaccination Programme, healthy children aged two, three and four, plus children in school years one and two.

"Individuals aged between two and 18 years will usually be offered the needle-free nasal spray vaccine."

You can get the jab at many pharmacies, including at Boots, Superdrug and Tesco, and find out more through your GP.