Teams of doctors are to be drafted into Bolton as part of a nationwide drive to get people “back to work.”

This comes after the borough was identified as one of several areas around the country, including Newcastle and Blackpool, where clinicians will be sent.

They will be sent to areas such as Bolton as part of the government’s £240M “Get Britain Working” package, which aims to bring down on long term sick and back into work.

Bolton West MP Phil Brickell said: “I welcome the move to deploy more clinicians to Bolton to clear the backlog. 

“This Labour government is determined to get people who can work back into work. 

The doctors could also help to reduce pressures on the NHSThe doctors could also help to reduce pressures on the NHS (Image: Newsquest)

“I speak to many people at my advice surgeries want to get back to work but are unable to do so because they are waiting for what should be routine operations. 

“This is damaging for the individual but also damaging for the economy. 

“The bricklayer who wants to work but needs a knee operation should not have to wait months, sometimes years, to get it on the NHS. 

“This policy shows that the Labour government is tackling issues head on.”

Earlier this autumn, Bolton Council released its most recent public health report which found that just under a third of the borough’s adults were “economically inactive.”

This meant that around 30 per cent of people between the ages of 16 and 64 were neither in work nor looking for work.

Of those 30 per cent of people, around 29 per cent were classified as “long term sick.”

But the government’s £240M package, which was unveiled towards the end of October, is intended to fund a range of measures aimed at getting people back into work.

This includes schemes like the extra clinicians to be sent to Bolton and other areas.

Bolton South and Walken MP Yasmin Qureshi said that this could also be key to tackling backlogs in the NHS.

ALSO READ: Nearly a third of Bolton adults 'economically inactive'

ALSO READ: Employment support service expanded into Bolton

ALSO READ: Royal Bolton adopts 'life saving' rule to give families more rights

She said: “After 14 years of chronic underinvestment from the Tories, this is a vital step being taken by the government to fix our broken National Health Service.”

The government says that this will come as part of wider ranging efforts to get people back into work and drive economic growth. 

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “Due to years of economic neglect, the benefits bill is ballooning. 

“We will build a Britain where people who can work, will work, turning the page on the recent rise in economic inactivity and decline and towards a future where people have good jobs and our benefits bill is under control.”