HEALTH services in Bolton are to get a record amount of money as part of an increased investment in the NHS announced in Gordon Brown's Budget.

But, despite a big increase in cash available to the local health trust, there will be no reprieve for 95 workers who were told in January that their jobs have to go to balance the books.

Bolton's slice of an extra £8 billion funding for the NHS announced by the Chancellor on Wednesday is £33.2 million, taking the town's total NHS spending in the next financial year to more than £400 million.

The money is given to the Primary Care Trust which will hand a significant sum to the Royal Bolton Hospital. It will be used to cut waiting times, improve community services such as district nurses and cover inflation-related rises.

However, extra funding had already been taken consideration by the hospital's financial chiefs when they announced the job losses. Despite the additional cash £3.7 million still needs to be cut from the budget to meet Government efficiency targets.

Council leaders welcomed the news of the extra investment in the town and urged that the money be spent on preventative schemes.

Conservative councillor Andy Morgan, who is chairman of the council's health scrutiny committee, said: "We welcome the money, but it is what we should have been given all along as I believe we've been underfunded.

"I would urge the PCT to use some of this money on preventative measures rather than just supporting patients who are already ill."

David Crausby, MP for Bolton North-east, added: "This is extremely good news because we certainly need the extra money as in Bolton we have health issues specific to our part of the world and we really should be addressing them.

"The town's three MPs have argued the case for better investment in health because in our opinion we haven't always had enough investment."

Dr Brian Iddon, MP for Bolton South-east, said: "To achieve a waiting time reduction would be a huge achievement for the NHS, making it more streamlined and productive as well as creating a much better experience for patients."

Last year Bolton's budget for health was raised by £30 million - a rise of almost 10 per cent - but health bosses are warning that such rises may not be repeated.

Tim Evans, interim chief executive of Bolton Primary Care Trust, said: "There has been five years of big growth in the NHS. I expect this to drop to three per cent in the next three years.

"We're going to spend a lot of the extra money, probably around £11 million, on reducing waiting times to 18 weeks."