URGENT cost-cutting measures are being introduced at the Royal Bolton Hospital in a bid to save £300,000 -- by the end of this month.

Staff at the financially-troubled hospital are being told that the service it offers in the future could suffer unless that amount can be saved before the new financial year begins in April.

The package of money saving measures includes:

Putting senior nurses back on to ward duties

Reviewing nurses' shifts

A freeze on all staff appointments

A ban on study leave

A reduction in blood bottle stocks.

A briefing note sent to senior NHS Trust chiefs and seen by the Bolton Evening News reveals that without extensive cutbacks the hospital will not even meet its pledge to limit debts at the end of this financial year to £3.2 million.

The briefing note, by Bolton

Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive John Brunt and finance director Beverly Peacock, warns that if the £3.2 million debt target is missed the consequences will be "very serious indeed".

Failure to meet that figure -- which the trust assured Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority it would achieve -- would mean the hospital would miss out on extra Department of Health funding for trusts which meet their targets, including financial ones.

Mr Brunt and Mrs Peacock said: "Not only will we have to carry forward the larger deficit into the next year, but also the stability of our organisation and our ability to attract further funding will be reduced and that will affect the service we provide and every member of our staff."

The briefing admits staff are already "very stretched" but says there is no alternative.

It goes on: "We know only too well that everyone has been struggling under increased pressures at the same time as adhering to a stringent policy to save money.

"It is therefore with great reluctance that we are having to introduce further cost-cutting measures. We simply have no other option."

But the £250,000 to £300,000 cost-cutting package has come under fire from union The Royal College of Nursing.

Regional officer Liz Judge said: "These are just short-term measures and they are not supportive to the nurses who at this moment are working at capacity. It's going to put an awful lot of strain on nurses.

"These measures are financially driven. They are not taking into account the needs of the patients or our members."

Bosses at the hospital trust say the financial crisis is the result of factors including a deficit inherited from the former Wigan and Bolton Health Authority, increased cost of drugs and increasingly heavy demand for services for very sick patients.

Bolton North-east MP David Crausby said the situation was worrying but added that he expected it to improve in the next three years when funding will increase around 30 per cent.

He said: "It's a concern that we are having to do this in the last part of the financial year. This is a result of underfunding over many years catching up with us, but I believe the outlook is better.

"We will still be pushing for more funding although this isn't just an issue about money, it's how we spend it. This is public money and we have to spend it wisely, so it's proper that we put the trust under scrutiny."

Dr Brian Iddon, Bolton South-east MP, stressed the short term nature of the cuts and said normality should be restored next month.

He said: "I'm confident that no patient is going to see a problem as a result of these one month cuts.

"I asked them if they had a major disaster like a big pile-up on the motorway whether they would have enough blood stocks and they said they would just ship it in from other hospitals. They are just reducing for a month.

"It's pressure on the hospital that we could do without. If it lasted more than a month I would be very dissatisfied but I can wear it for a month."

A hospital spokesman said: "The Trust has a rigorous financial recovery plan which will bring us back into balance over the next two years.

"However, despite the tremendous efforts of staff, some of our measures have not delivered results as quickly as we had hoped.

"This is why a number of additional short-term measures have had to be introduced which mean we will achieve our year-end target.

"These will not affect patient care. Reviewing stocks of drugs or blood does not mean stopping using them, or not storing enough, it simply means not carrying excessive amounts."

The Bolton Evening News reported in February that some suppliers of staff and equipment to the hospital faced ruin because their bills had not been paid since November.