CASH-strapped Bolton health chiefs are set to save hundreds of thousands of pounds a year by selling off a large slice of a redundant hospital site.

The Primary Care Trust that runs the hospital is expected to have a budget deficit of £1.6 million by the end of this financial year.

But it has been revealed that plans to sell of almost threequarters of the redundant Hulton Hospital site in Deane would save a significant part of the estimated £334,000 which it costs to maintain the property.

This is on top of the funds a sale would raise.

Under current proposals the remainder would be retained by the NHS.

Services which are operating from the site will either be kept or relocated depending on the condition of their premises.

Funds raised by the sale could be used to develop new health facilities on the remaining land.

This could include rehousing local GPs and pharmacies.

The plans were discussed by the Trust board and were approved.

The only health services which are still operating from the site are a Mental Health Trust staff base, a Primary Care Trust therapy service and a Mental Health Trust care and responsibility unit.

The Mental Health Trust staff base and PCT unit will remain in operation from the geriatric day hospital building on the site, while other services are most likely to be relocated to the Royal Bolton Hospital. Under the NHS estate code, surplus property which no longer enables the Trust to fulfil its role as a healthcare provider, must be sold off.

A PCT spokesman said: "We'll be looking to improve primary care services for people who live in the surrounding area by developing new facilities on part of the Hulton site.

"We are keeping sufficient space to meet expected needs in the near future, and allow scope for further expansion should this ever be required in years to come.

"The sale of land identified as surplus to requirements is both a legal obligation for us and a big step towards our financial recovery plan."

The PCT will now try to gauge the value of the site to potential buyers.

There was public criticism over the hospital's closure in March, as many feared that the Royal Bolton Hospital may struggle with an influx of extra patients.

The plan was proposed because many of the hospital's 16 buildings, some of which date back to 1908, need major repairs.

Some of the buildings, which were used to care for long-stay elderly patients, date back to 1908.