BOLTON'S new health body, the Primary Care Trust, which meets today (Tuesday), has scrapped secrecy rules to encourage "open and frank" public discussions.

Embargo notices will no longer be issued with copies of the board meeting agendas, allowing the press and public to debate issues in the public arena before health leaders decide their outcome.

These agendas for monthly meetings -- which could include how much money the Royal Bolton Hospital is going to get to tackle bed shortages -- will soon be posted onto the Trust's yet-to-be-formed website. They will also be available in libraries across Bolton.

The meeting today was due to debate the Royal Bolton Hospital's elderly discharge policy, and look at the issues surrounding the lack of beds at the hospital.

The meeting, in the Lancaster Suite, Bolton town hall, was also expected to reveal the appointments to Bolton's new Professional Executive Committee (PEC), which will include five GPs, two nurses, two therapists, a dentist and two local councillors.

The board, headed by local grandmother Pam Senior, will be holding its meetings at various times and at different venues across the borough to encourage more people to attend and discuss health issues affecting the town.

Mrs Senior said: "We are taking steps to ensure this board operates in an open and accessible way.

"We want to work with the general public in new and different ways and reach those people who have not had a voice before."