Operations will be cancelled in most Welsh hospitals because of a high level of emergency flu admissions.

After a meeting with health officials, Welsh Health Secretary Jane Hutt said flu levels in Wales were at their highest for 11 years and the situation remained "extremely tight".

She said elective surgery would be cancelled in most hospitals this week in order to deal with emergency admissions.

"In Wales we are facing very high flu levels," she said.

"The latest figure for Wales, which is 189 cases per 100,000 population, is considerably higher than the norm for this time of year and is the highest recorded since 1989."

Ms Hutt said the figures related to people who have visited their GPs with flu symptoms and did not take account of many more who have visited their pharmacy and were treating themselves at home.

"Even though the official figure has not reached the technical epidemic level, 400 per 100,000, there is no doubt that we are experiencing very substantial levels of illness," she said.

"I am continuing to monitor the situation daily and will be meeting representatives of health authorities, trusts, local health groups and local government this week.

"A lot of planning has gone into managing winter pressures and I will be looking at how these plans have worked.

"£22m over two years has been made available to health authorities to help meet winter emergency pressures."

However, medical staff are warning of possible collapse of the NHS.

Dr Bob Broughton of the British Medical Association said: "Any further pressure on the hospitals and on general practice is going to cause the situation to deteriorate even to the point of collapse."

Last week, Welsh hospitals claimed they had reached crisis point, with a chronic shortage of beds.

The Royal College of Nursing has called for better funding for the NHS in Wales.

RCN Wales spokesperson Liz Hewett acknowledged that extra money was made available for the winter.

"An extra £22m is good news but not if you, or a close relative, are waiting a long time on a trolley for treatment," she said.