ROYAL Bolton Hospital staff are drawing up plans to help prevent last year's winter crisis which brought it to the brink of closing its doors to patients.

A New Year flu epidemic saw the hospital having to deal with nearly double its usual number of emergency medical admissions pushing resources and staff to the limits.

Routine surgery had to be cancelled in order to deal with the extra workload.

But Sue Reed, Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust director of nursing says final touches are now being put to new initiatives which they hope will help alleviate such crises this year.

Staff working in clinical practice have met with chief executive John Brunt and Ms Reed to discuss ways in which procedures can be put in place to help deal with an extra influx of ill people.

Meetings have also been held locally with representatives of the Royal College of Nursing and the hospital is working closely with community services to co-ordinate their efforts.

Initiatives for this year's possible hospital crisis include opening up additional beds to deal with medical admissions and more flexible working patterns for staff.

Support services such as radiology and physiotherapy will operate out of hours and at weekends to ensure patients are speedily assessed and treated.

"We rely heavily upon our staff who are extremely helpful," said Ms Reed.

"We are continuing to build on the initiatives that we put in place last year.

"We are doing everything possible to ensure we have the right arrangements in place, however it is very difficult to predict the effects of a flu epidemic."

Today the Royal College of Nursing is opening a 24 hour national actionline for nurses to ring and report where pressures are building on NHS services this winter.

The RCN says it will use the information to help spread practical solutions throughout the country.