A FORMER leading heart nurse has declared the town's Royal Bolton Hospital as one of the best in country -- despite a report showing the hospital bottom of the league.

Anne Kaneen, who was a ward sister in the hospital's coronary care unit for 17 years, today blamed the lifestyle of Bolton folk for the poor figures in a shock report.

The report by the Department of Health yesterday highlighted the alarming fact that more people die in the Royal Bolton Hospital than any other similar hospital after being admitted with a heart attack.

But Mrs Kaneen said that she would be happy to see the hospital's heart unit take care of her loved ones if they were to ever fell ill.

She said: "The reason for the figures are much more complicated than a straight forward claim that the hospital is not adequate. The facilities there now are tremendous.

"If any members of my family were to need their services I don't think they would get better caring staff with their level of experience, and in particular the cardiologist surgeons and the registrars.

"The figures reflect the severity of the illnesses which are admitted. It's a fact that 30pc of people don't even reach the hospital before the heart attack is fatal."

The former nurse, with 45 years experience, is now chairman of the Bolton Cardiac Support Group.

She believes many deaths can be prevented by adopting healthier lifestyles.

She said: "It is well established that the North-west is the blackest spot for incidents of heart disease in the country and that this country has one of the worst records in Europe.

"There are increased pressures on the heart units in the North than in the South. In many cases people are resistant to changes in their lifestyle, the unemployed people who sit at home and are smokers."

The health league tables featured in last night's BEN showed that Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust is ranked worst out of 56 similar hospitals across the country, with 20pc of people aged 35 to 74 admitted with a heart attack dying in hospital within 30 days.

And, although the British Heart Foundation called the figures "regrettable" for Bolton, a spokesman said the Government had just released a new programme for coronary care throughout the country.

Paul Fawcett from the foundation said: "It's regrettable for any area to come bottom of the list. It's far from an ideal situation.

"The Government has launched the National Service Framework on Coronary Heart Disease which took a couple of years in the preparation.

"It will address some of the problems in the differences between hospitals in the country but that's small comfort to the people of Bolton."