A PLANNING application has been submitted to create a new, £1 million community health care unit.

NHS Bolton is seeking permission to transform the Bolton Community Unit, which is based on the grounds of the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Its services free up thousands of hospital beds a year and save the NHS more than £500,000 annually.

It treats and organises future care for patients who have attended the hospital’s A&E department but do not need to be admitted onto a ward.

It needs to move sites to make way for the hospital’s new maternity and children’s supercentre.

NHS Bolton, which runs the unit with Bolton NHS Acute Trust and Bolton Council, wants to create a new building close to the A&E unit.

Between April and December, 2008, the site led to 2,866 deflected admissions, saving the NHS £500,000.

Over 12 months, the NHS expects the new unit to prevent 4,000 hospital admissions, saving £718,000.

The existing community unit, which opened in 2006, cares for people whose needs can be managed without admission to hospital — and often at home.

For example, an elderly person who has fallen could be sent home where they would receive extra support instead of having to stay on a ward.

The planning application has gone in to Bolton Council and a decision is expected in two or three months.

The NHS hopes work can start on the building in June, with completion in December or January.

The existing unit needs to be vacated by July 1. Discussions are currently underway to find a temporary home for it.