Professor Sir George Alberti has written to NHS chief executive Sir Alan Langlands asking him to ban hospitals from running holiday rotas with skeleton staff over the entire period.

The NHS has enough problem maintaining good care over the current British three day and four day public holidays, he said.

Sir Alan Langlands has been contacted by Sir George Alberti

He predicted that not only will the few doctors around will be forced to spend all their time dealing with emergencies, and not on caring for patients on wards, but that nurses will "vote with their feet" and not even turn up for work.

He said: "It looks as if we will have something close to a ten day break which will be catastrophic for patient care.

"To have emergency rotas, holiday-style, combined with limited cover from laboratory sevices and radiology will be deleterious to patient care.

"We have difficulty as it is coping with Bank Holiday weekends or four day breaks."

"Nurses may quit over money"

A spokeswoman for the Royal College of Nursing rejected the idea that nurses were less motivated to turn up for work than doctors, but warned that the availability of agency work meant that some might resign rather than accept meagre bonus deals.

She said: "What we need is a national bonus settlement. I'm not saying people are going to leave in droves, but many are unhappy."

A spokesman for the NHS Management Executive said that it was telling hospitals not to let the quality of their care suffer.

"The minister has said that the NHS is a 24 hour a day, 365 day a year service, and we expect trusts to make sure their services are fully functioning over the millennium.

Maternity will be "pressure point"

"They will have to bear in mind there will some additional pressure points, particularly in maternity."

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have already issued warnings that attempts by couples to conceive a "millennium baby" could cause major difficulties for maternity departments.

In adddition hospitals are still racing to make their computer systems, and those of vital suppliers, including water and power firms, can cope with the millennium bug.

It has been left to individual hospitals to negotiate millennium pay rates with their staff. In London, a bonus of around £150 has been offered - elsewhere it has been double or three times that figure.