HOSPITAL bosses want Bolton's pub landlords to serve drinks in plastic glasses during the Millennium celebrations to reduce the number of injuries.

And they have asked for extra police cover to protect staff against unruly revellers.

A police presence has been requested on the hospital site for three days - December 31 and January 1 and 2 - as pubs will be allowed to open for 36 hours from 11am on New Year's Eve.

It is reckoned 350 staff will be on duty or on call/stand-by on the nightshift of December 31 and about 400 on the early shift on January 1, 2000.

Those working New Year's Eve will receive an additional £150, on top of the enhanced bank holiday rate and those working New Year's Day will get an extra £75.

All routine work will cease on December 22 and will not be picked up again until January 9. However if there are not the high number of emergencies anticipated, the hospital could return to normal working on January 4.

No wards will be closed over Christmas and New Year and if necessary the children's surgical ward will be used by adults over the New Year period. Five health centres will be open across the borough from January 1-4 to support the hospital and there will also be a contraception service.

Local doctors are being asked to provide details of which staff will be working and when over the holiday period and already talks have been held with Bolton District Medical Services - the out of hours deputising service - to ensure the problems experienced last year when people had difficulty getting through do not re-occur.

The trust has also written to the local authority in a bid to ease some of the "horrendous" pressures put on the hospital mortuary last winter.

Because the registrar and crematorium were closed Bolton, in common with many other hospitals across the country, experienced problems in storing an increased number of bodies and a backlog built up.

The trust has already ordered an additional temporary mortuary facility for the holiday period and this will be placed at the back of the existing mortuary.

The trust has already agreed to put an extra two security staff of its own on the A and E unit and radiology on December 31 and are waiting to hear from the police about the request for extra officers.

Trust bosses have also contacted the hospital's creche managers to find out if there is any chance they can stay open overnight on New Year's Eve.

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