STAFF at the Royal Bolton Hospital should find out in the next few weeks whether their jobs will be cut.

A consultation about 500 job cuts at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust is in its final stages and employees are expected to be informed how they will be affected.

It comes four months after the jobs axe was announced at the troubled Trust, on November 14.

A three-month consultation began that day, but had to be re-started a month later after union officials complained they had not had the correct information.

The consultation therefore officially began on December 14, and was due to end on March 14.

Hospital bosses, who have been working with the “turnaround” team and director and experts from Deloitte to create a plan and find areas where jobs can be lost, have said the staff consultations are being completed.

They are hoping voluntary redundancies will reduce the number of forced job losses and said the number may of positions needed to go may not be as high as 500.

Heather Edwards, head of communications at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our aim is to minimise any frontline redundancies for the benefit of patients in our care — for example there will be no redundancies of ward-based qualified nursing staff — and to ensure that quality and safety are maintained.

“The majority of compulsory redundancies will be in support roles.”

Harry Hanley, secretary of Staff Side at the Royal Bolton Hospital, said employees were unsure of what was going on and some may not be told about the future of their jobs until after Easter.

He added: “People are very nervous and stressed about what is happening, but hopefully we can get by with some voluntary redundancies.

“They want to know what is happening and if they can keep their jobs.”