A GROUP of people have started working the wards of the Royal Bolton Hospital to ease the problems caused by a shortage of skilled nurses.

A total of 21 assistant practitioners have begun their valuable work as part of a Government-led pilot project.

All assistants are unqualified staff and will help nurses in their every day tasks.

Director of Nursing, Sue Reed, said that the assistants had already received "promising" feedback from patients.

Bosses are currently looking at providing them with a distinctive uniform, such as canary yellow, which would make them stand out from qualified staff. More than 100 people applied for the new role.

The assistant practitioners will study for a NVQ Level II in Health and Social Care at Bolton Institute with 80 per cent of their training hands on, according to Mrs Reed.

Sixteen of the new recruits were existing employees at the hospital and five were external appointments.

They are working in the medical and elderly wards and the orthopaedic speciality ward.

Mrs Reed said that they were looking at ways in which the new recruits could help ease the "bottlenecks in the patient journey", so people in the Royal Bolton Hospital receive better care.

Bolton's Royal College of Nursing has welcomed the new role but has called for safeguards to prevent the unqualified staff from taking on the jobs of nurses.

Called the Work, Earn and Learn scheme, the Government programme aims to recruit mature people who have a "caring attitude and life experience" rather than formal qualifications.

Over the next three years, more than 2,000 people will be recruited nationwide.

Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust said it was delighted to be chosen as a pilot site.