A MAN who campaigned to improve life for Bolton's elderly is stepping down.

Dr Arup Banerjee is taking early retirement after working in Bolton for 26 years.

Dr Banerjee trained in Calcutta and came to England at the age of 24, then spent three years in Malaysia.

On his return to England, he decided to specialise in elderly medicine.

He said; "I regarded it as a challenge and saw the scope for research and development.

"I have long argued that elderly care should be an acute speciality."

investment

He was instrumental in pressing home Bolton's case for capital investment on the former Bolton General Hospital site and wanted to see the development of the Hulton Lane site before his retirement into a centre of nursing, research and teaching excellence.

He is a former medical director of Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, the first since the Trust was formed in 1994 and president of the highly prestigious British Geriatric Society.

Dr Banerjee was "flabbergasted" when he was awarded the OBE for his seervices to medicine in 1996.

He has three sons, all in the medical profession, and twin grand-daughters.

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