Families are being asked to take over "daunting" caring and treatment duties, so hospital patients can be sent home sooner, in a bid to stem overcrowding in Accident & Emergency departments.
Health officials have urged relatives to take on tasks such as administering injections and helping move patients amid extreme pressures on hospitals.
They said they needed help from families to ensure patients could be discharged from wards more quickly, so beds could be found for A&E patients.
Dr Nick Wilmott, NHS West Leicestershire clinical commissioning group clinical lead said: 'We're asking people to be prepared to support their loved ones to recover at home wherever possible.
"The idea of supporting recovery may seem daunting at first, but learning these basic techniques, such as administering injections or supporting someone to move from their chair to their bed in the correct way means that your loved one can be discharged earlier, and ultimately recover more quickly at home."
Officials said the measures were necessary because the A&E department at Leicester Royal Infirmary was "extremely busy."
In other areas, GPs are being drafted in to help send patients home and free up beds. Doctors said the moves were driven by "panic" and took no account of desperate shortages of GPs.
In NHS North Lincolnshire, family doctors are being called in to review patients at Scunthorpe General Hospital amid "unprecedented demand" on services with patients experiencing "extremely long A&E waits."
The area is struggling with a major shortfall of GPs, and is currently recruiting doctors from Lithuania, Poland and Greece in a bid to plug gaps.
Dr Andrew Green, chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee clinical and prescribing subcommittee, said the request was "incredible".
NHS North Lincolnshire clinical commissioning group (CCG) officials have been trying to relieve pressure on Scunthorpe General Hospital, which they said is "facing unprecedented demand" on services, with patients "experiencing extremely long A&E waits".
One GP, speaking anonymously, said they had "never seen a request like it in over 20 years of practice".
An NHS North Lincolnshire CCG spokesman said: "As is the case with hospitals in many parts of the UK this week, our local acute hospital is currently experiencing significant bed pressures".
The plans come as health officials attempt to recruit hundreds of GPs from countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Greece with promises of £90,000 salaries and “generous relocation packages” in a bid to tackle a spiralling NHS crisis.
The new scheme run by NHS England will see doctors from across the EU undergoing 12 weeks training in Poland before they start work in Britain.
Health officials are trawling EU countries for medical staff in a bid to plug shortages of family doctors, amid warnings that long waits to see GPs are fuelling the Accident & Emergency (A&E) crisis.
Medics from Croatia, Lithuania, Greece, Spain and Poland have now been recruited, as part of plans which aim to bring 500 doctors in from the EU ahead of Brexit.
Patients groups said the measures were “desperate” and said the NHS had “taken a wrong turn” in failing to attract enough home-grown doctors.
On Wednesday a report by the National Audit Office warned that poor access to GPs during the working day could be fuelling Britain’s A&E crisis.
The watchdog said almost half of practices had closures during office hours, with one fifth regularly closing their doors by 3pm.
It followed warnings that rising numbers of patients are being forced to wait a month to see a family doctor, with estimates of a shortage of up to 10,000 GPs by 2020.
The new scheme, being piloted in Lincolnshire by local medical committees and NHS England, is being used as a blueprint for national plans to hire 500 GPs from overseas.
Doctors will be promised a guaranteed annual salary of £90,000 and a “generous relocation package” to move to England.
Health officials are currently advertising 25 posts, around half of which have been filled, Pulse magazine disclosed.
NHS England plans to roll out the Lincolnshire scheme more widely to meet the Government's target of 500 GPs from overseas.
Under the scheme, doctors from countries all over Europe will be able to come to Britain after undergoing 12 weeks of paid training at a campus in Poland.
The induction programme will provide medics with English language lessons and teach doctors about the culture of the NHS.
The first round of recruits are due to start training next week, in order to start work in England from April, with the next wave due to start training within three months.
The average family doctor in England earns around £100,000 annually, but the majority of those receiving six-figure earnings are GP partners, with several years’ experience.
Joyce Robins, from Patient Concern, said: “These really do sound like desperate measures. It is horrifying to think of all the money we have spent training doctors who have left to work in New Zealand and Australia, only for us to have to trawl abroad to find GPs.”
“Patients need a GP who can chat to them about their concerns, not someone who has just finished an English language course,” she added.
“I fid it terrifying that we have reached this crisis point, with so many people flooding into A&E because they can’t see a GP. I do feel the NHS has taken a wrong turn in letting things get so bad.”
The plan is an attempt to attract doctors ahead of restrictions that could arise from Brexit.
The overseas recruitment drive appears at odds with the Government's plan for the NHS to become less reliant on foreign doctors and in the long-term “self-sufficient” in producing medical staff.
However, NHS England has since confirmed that it is looking to expand on the Lincolnshire scheme and push on with plans to recruit 500 doctors from Europe, as part of plans to recruit 5,000 more GPs by 2020.
The area has one of the biggest shortfalls in GPs anywhere in England.
Earlier this week a report by the NAO suggested the plans could still leave a shortfall of almost 2,000 doctors.
And the Royal College of GPs estimates a shortfall of almost 10,000 doctors, based on recent retirement rates.
Last month the head of the RCGP warned that patients were being placed at increasing risk by waits of up to one month to see a GP amid winter pressures.
The NAO report said short opening hours among practices were associated with higher rates of A&E attendances, and higher death rates.
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