STRICT new guidelines for celebrity visits have been put in place at the Royal Bolton Hospital in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Chiefs at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust have put together an action plan to prevent abuse of the kind committed by the disgraced DJ from happening at the hospital.

In the wake of Savile’s death – and subsequent allegations about his serial sex offending – a Department of Health inquiry was launched.

Investigations revealed the scale of the abuse he carried out on NHS premises – including raping and sexually abusing male and female patients, staff and visitors, and even having sex with dead bodies – and 44 reports were published.

Kate Lampard QC was asked by the Government to produce a ‘lessons learned’ report from these findings, identifying areas of concerns across the NHS, and this was published in February.

David Bennett, chief executive of Monitor, wrote to the chief executives of all trusts in March and asked them to respond to the recommendations with the actions they had taken.

His letter, seen by the Bolton News, states: “While many of these actions took place a long time ago and, in some cases, at institutions that no longer exist, everyone within the NHS has a responsibility to make sure nothing like this can ever happen again.”

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust presented an ‘action plan’ in response to the lessons learned from the scandal at its board meeting on May 28.

In it, a number of improvements to systems and processes to protect patients and staff – based on Ms Lampard’s recommendations – were identified.

The trust has reviewed and updated its celebrity visits procedure and altered policies so they reflect the possible risks of the hospital’s association with celebrities and major donors.

A new volunteer strategy has also been produced, with policies on volunteer recruitment, selection, training, safeguarding, management and supervision updated.

Another recommendation was that all staff and volunteers should be DBS checked every three years – but the trust said this will not be carried out as NHS employers do not support the action.

Heather Edwards, head of communications at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We already have in place a number of policies to safeguard our patients.

“However, we have taken the opportunity to review these policies and our processes and strengthen them in line with the recommendations.”

An external review of safeguarding children and adults at the Royal Bolton Hospital was completed in November last year.