AFTER months of meticulous planning, Bolton's casualty department moved across town from the Royal Infirmary to the new Bolton General development today.

The new accident and emergency department opened its doors to the public at the £45 million hospital at 7.30am.

The massive job of moving to the new site had been planned down to the last detail by special staff teams.

"It's gone into such fine detail as counting the splints in the splint cupboard," said consultant John Adams, who heads Bolton's A and E team.

The transfer was planned to coincide with staff shift patterns. As the night shift at Bolton Royal ended at 7.30 am today, the early day shift took over at Bolton General.

A small number of staff continued to work from the BRI site for a few hours, but it was expected the unit would be emptied of staff and equipment by lunch time.

The new location will mean a significant increase in anticipated attendances, particularly from the south of the Bolton General site, taking in the Little Hulton, Walkden and surrounding areas.

Mr Adams said: "One of the most difficult aspects of the transfer has been trying to decide how we best use the space available.

"We had to look at what we had at Bolton Royal and how this would best be provided on the Bolton General site.

"The new unit will provide everything we provided at the Royal. It is not the people who have changed, it's the location."

Consultant colleague Chris Moulton said: "At the end of the day the new unit will have better patient facilities.

"The argument has long been that the unit at the Royal was cramped. This will have lots of space and will be very pleasing to the eye."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.