ROYAL Bolton Hospital boss John Brunt says calls for a second hospital in Bolton would not solve the town's problems.

The chief executive has defended the Minerva Road site, which has been given a poor rating by the Government, and claims it is more efficient now than in the days of the Bolton Royal Infirmary.

The Government's new star grading system gave Bolton the worst result in the North-west. But Mr Brunt has defended the closure of the Infirmary, which shut its doors in 1996.

He claims the Farnworth-based hospital now works more efficiently on one site -- despite having high numbers of operation cancellations due to bed shortages.

Trolleys

Many BEN readers have made calls for a second hospital in the town -- returning to the days when Bolton served the community on two separate sites.

They claim that before 1996 the town never saw the shocking scenes, pictured exclusively in the BEN last week, of queuing patients in the accident and emergency department waiting for hours on trolleys in corridors.

In the early 1990s the Infirmary site off Chorley New Road had been considered too cramped by health chiefs and too expensive to refurbish.

The new Royal Bolton Hospital was labelled a "super hospital" and included the accident and emergency, intensive care, day surgery and out patients departments, as well as a restaurant, chapel and prayer rooms for the Muslim and Hindu communities.

However, by December 1996 reports revealed that the hospital was already strapped for cash. The multi-million pound development had to deal with increased numbers of patients from a wider area, including Little Hulton and Walkden. Leigh Infirmary had also shut, sending more patients in Bolton's direction.

Angry patients were already branding the new casualty unit "under-staffed" and "chronically under-funded".

Bolton, with a population of 261,000, has just one main hospital, the Royal Bolton, that deals with all major medical procedures. Mr Brunt said the closure of Bolton Royal Infirmary meant less time-wasting journeys between sites for patients and administration staff.

He said: "When we look at the capacity issues, we make much better use of our beds on one site rather than two sites.

"We make better use of our staff and tests are done more quickly now that we are on one site. It makes more economical sense -- we are more efficient.

"We wouldn't be able to cope with being on two sites -- there's no doubt about that."

The catchment area of the Royal Bolton Hospital increased by more than 60,000 when the Infirmary shut its doors, and hospital bosses are still campaigning for extra Government cash to cater for the extra demand. ROYAL Bolton Hospital boss John Brunt says calls for a second hospital in Bolton would not solve the town's problems.

The chief executive has defended the Minerva Road site, which has been given a poor rating by the Government, and claims it is more efficient now than in the days of the Bolton Royal Infirmary.

The Government's new star grading system gave Bolton the worst result in the North-west. But Mr Brunt has defended the closure of the Infirmary, which shut its doors in 1996.

He claims the Farnworth-based hospital now works more efficiently on one site -- despite having high numbers of operation cancellations due to bed shortages.

Trolleys

Many BEN readers have made calls for a second hospital in the town -- returning to the days when Bolton served the community on two separate sites.

They claim that before 1996 the town never saw the shocking scenes, pictured exclusively in the BEN last week, of patients waiting for hours on trolleys in corridors in the accident and emergency department.

In the early 1990s the Infirmary site off Chorley New Road had been considered too cramped by health chiefs and too expensive to refurbish.

The new Royal Bolton Hospital was labelled a "super hospital" and included the accident and emergency, intensive care, day surgery and out patients departments, as well as a restaurant, chapel and prayer rooms for the Muslim and Hindu communities.

However, by December 1996 reports revealed that the hospital was already strapped for cash. The multi-million pound development had to deal with increased numbers of patients from a wider area, including Little Hulton and Walkden. Leigh Infirmary had also shut, sending more patients in Bolton's direction.

Angry patients were already branding the new casualty unit "under-staffed" and "chronically under-funded".

Bolton, with a population of 261,000, has just one main hospital, the Royal Bolton, that deals with all major medical procedures. Mr Brunt said the closure of Bolton Royal Infirmary meant less time-wasting journeys between sites for patients and administration staff.

He said: "When we look at the capacity issues, we make much better use of our beds on one site rather than two sites.

"We make better use of our staff and tests are done more quickly now that we are on one site. It makes more economical sense -- we are more efficient.

"We wouldn't be able to cope with being on two sites -- there's no doubt about that."

The catchment area of the Royal Bolton Hospital increased by more than 60,000 when the Infirmary shut its doors, and hospital bosses are still campaigning for extra Government cash to cater for the extra demand.