HEALTH bosses want to get more people working in health and social care in Bolton.

The lure of a career in the NHS may not be what it once was, according to members of Bolton’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

At their most recent public board meeting, chief officer Su Long said they needed to focus on pulling together and supporting the workforce as part of the new locality plan as certain areas were proving harder to recruit in than others.

She said: “Community nursing is a particular area which is hard to recruit in as well as special areas in hospitals, including A & E.

“Elderly care is another area where it is hard to find people nationally.

“In the care services there is a problem with recruitment and retention.

“The need for a plan at a Bolton level is really important. We have already set up a workforce group, which I will chair.

Board chairman Dr Wirin Bhatiani raised the issue of difficulties in recruitment into the NHS with Bolton West MP Chris Green, requesting him to challenge the axing of the student nurse bursaries.

He said: “I said it would be a really bad decision. It will create more barriers to getting into the profession.

“We should be encouraging people to train, not putting more barriers in their way.

“It is a tough job and there is no escaping that really. The workforce is a really important issue but we are not powerless to improve things, we just have to think outside the box.”

The demands on doctors working at local GP surgeries was also putting off up-and-coming young doctors from working in the NHS, Dr Tarek Bakht added.

He argued that more should be done to provide cover for doctors and more encouragement to stay within the profession should be given.

However, Dr Barry Silvert, a member of the Local Medical Council, countered that the profession was not all doom and gloom, as could be seen by the representatives of the CCG’s own board.

He added: “I’m hearing it was awful, it’s overwhelming and it’s busy but there’s GPs sitting around this table who do this job, many of us for a long time. If we all hated it we would have gone.

“The fact we are still working, there’s still a smile on our faces, is because we love our job.

“The message we have got to get out is it’s a great job, it’s not that difficult and you can do it!”