BOSSES from the Wigan and Bolton Health Authority have given assurances that Bolton's cash-hit hospital will continue "to remain in operation".

The authority, which holds the purse-strings for the Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, admitted that until reading the BEN -- which broke the story on Tuesday that the hospital is facing £3 million debts -- it was unaware of the hospital's financial dire straights.

The trust, which claims that it has overspent by £356,000 in June on extra staff because of shortages, predicts that it could become insolvent if the crisis continues.

The trust hopes that the health authority will bail it out and has called for talks to thrash out a rescue package.

A spokesman for the Wigan and Bolton Health Authority said: "Although we have been aware recently of service pressures within the Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, we were only alerted to the scale of the financial problem by the report.

"We would support trust management in undertaking an urgent review of the underlying causes of the potential deficit and identifying internal action to redress the position by the end of the current financial year in March 2002.

"We would wish to reassure the public in Bolton that the trust will remain in operation and a full range of services will continue to be provided.

"The health authority will be examining the position carefully in conjunction with partner stakeholders in the local health economy and the situation will be closely monitored over the coming weeks."