Hope somebody can shed some light on this for me. For the last few days when i've gone to turn on the TV instead of the green light by the power button coming on it flashes red and i get no power or picture. The red light then continues to pulse

If I turn it off then on and hold in the button it will eventually work but it's now taking several goes before it does

You're not really in the correct sub-forum for this as it concerns a Plasma TV set but....
The flashing light (number of flashes before it pauses and repeats) is often a fault code which can aid a technician familiar with the unit.

Whatever, you will need to have a TV repair technician look at the set. Panasonic have a customer call centre that may be able to advise further.

perhaps a little belated response, I had a similar problem with a Sony set where it was difficult to turn on from cold, but from standby it was OK. So I left it on standby.