HOSPITAL chiefs are going into cyber space to recruit staff.

Job-seeking nurses can now surf the Internet to find their perfect role at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

The new hospital website, at www.boltonhospitals.nhs.uk, has already had 45,000 hits.

However, patients having "virtual consultations" with specialists was still a long way off, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

She added: "We don't want to raise patient expectations yet, but the potential is certainly there."

The free site tells patients and staff how to reach the hospital and has a general news section. It features the hospital's performance in national tables in which it scored two stars.

Information also includes waiting list figures for operations, the revenue budget for the hospital, and available beds by department.

Peter Liptrott, chairman of the Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We hope that this is the way forward. Hopefully, our recruitment adverts can attract people from all over the world. The number of responses has already been very hopeful."

A new fitness and social club for staff has opened at the hospital. The Government gave health chiefs £25,000 to improve the working lives of nurses and doctors, who voted for the fitness centre.

The free social club at the Minerva Road site, nicknamed the Staff Village, which includes creche and doctors' mess, already boasts hundreds of members.

Staff can also pay to use the gym and fitness centre outside of working hours -- with hospital chief executive John Brunt one of the first paid-up members. Eddie McGurk, director of human resources, said: "We got money from the Government, but staff have also put in a lot of their own money to fund this facility. It is a good facility, with the potential to get better."