EXTRA beds will be introduced at the Royal Bolton Hospital this winter in a bid to reduce waiting times and cancelled operations in the accident and emergencies department.
There will be 10 extra medical beds, mostly used to treat elderly people with chest infections and other winter-related illnesses.
Other hospitals throughout Greater Manchester are preparing to follow suit.
Neil Goodwin, chief executive of the Manchester Health Authority, is co-ordinating the initiative on behalf of the NHS in Greater Manchester.
He said: "We are opening beds on the basis of the strategic location of the hospitals within the concurbation and on the experience of recent years."
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