THE financial state of the Royal Bolton Hospital revealed here will shock local people.

Debts of up to £3 million loom, warns Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust director of finance Beverly Peacock. The threat of insolvency could put the borough in a very rare category, losing financial control of its central health provider and with Government experts brought in to run the Trust.

Emergency admission pressures allied with other acute bed problems and staff shortages are officially blamed. The reality is a massive increase in the numbers of patients waiting on trollies for over four hours for beds to be available.

The fact that this revelation comes on the same day that an international report shows that the UK has one of the worst records in Europe for health expenditure is cold comfort for local people concerned about the prognosis for Bolton's services.

A worst case scenario would include a freeze on vacancies including not using "bank" nurses, which, unfortunately, only adds to the pressures on current staff and no development of services.

The only good news so far is that the situation will not affect the much-needed dialysis unit planned for Bolton.

There is no doubt that the hospital is under unrelenting pressure, with staff exhausted and national guidelines forcing the Trust to spend more on extra staff to comply. Greater numbers of patients from Wigan and Leigh and trends towards more elderly patients needing hospital care all add to the trauma.

The predictions look bad. But it is important to stress that the £3 million is currently simply a prediction.

Now, health bosses are appealing for cash help from other bodies, like the Wigan and Bolton Health Authority and Bolton Social Services.

We hope that they do offer assistance and that there is a way to cut the debt without too dramatic an effect on services for local patients.

It would be a great loss if, in an attempt to balance the books, the Trust compromised on patient care.

Everyone will be waiting anxiously to find out the next twist in this particular health saga, and hoping that -- if not a happy ending -- the Royal Bolton Hospital can still retain financial independence.