PATIENTS facing a long wait for surgery are being offered a fast-track deal at a private hospital.

Bolton NHS Hospitals Trust is to PAY Beaumont Hospital to help it cope with escalating waiting lists.

The private hospital, off Chorley New Road, will act as a 'safety valve' for the NHS.

Extra staff are being called in and the site extended to cater for additional operations.

The exact cost of the operations, which will be met by the Bolton NHS Hospital Trust and other neighbouring trusts, has not yet been revealed.

Plans to put up five temporary buildings, which will become NHS health screening centres, bedrooms and an IVF clinic, in the grounds were approved by the council's planning committee this week.

Wyn Davies, director of the Beaumont Hospital, said: "We are looking at people at the extreme end of the waiting list.

"We are going to ensure they are operated on quickly and act as an overflow for people waiting for surgery.

"We have always had close links with the NHS but this is a new service. We are pleased the Beaumont is being used to improve health care."

The new move comes a month after the Royal Bolton Hospital was named and shamed on a national survey of waiting lists carried out by the British Medical Association.

The survey revealed Bolton patients are currently waiting more than a year for orthopaedic appointments, more than a month to receive X-ray results and 23 weeks for scans.

Ann Schenk, director of services for the Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust, has admitted waiting lists for radiology and orthopaedics are "far too long".

A spokesman for the Bolton Hospital NHS Trust says the move is in line with the Government's directives, adding: "All hospitals are being urged to consider such arrangements as a short-term solution to reduce the waits for patients."

Mr Davies said that the Trust will have to pay for any surgery undertaken.

The Beaumont's infertility clinic, part of the Clinic for Assisted Reproduction, the privately-run IVF group, will also be based in the new buildings because of increased demand.

It is not the first time that the private hospital has helped out the Royal Bolton Hospital.

The Beaumont took over operations on cataract patients earlier this year while the eye unit at the Minerva Road site was being built.

NHS staff were temporarily moved to the Chorley New Road hospital.

Mr Davies said: "This will not be the case this time. We will take on extra staff."

But a spokesman for the Royal Bolton Hospital claims its surgeons will be carrying out operations.

He said: "We have an arrangement with the Beaumont to send around 25 patients there for routine ssurgery.

"These operations will be carried out by our own surgeons using the Beaumont's facilities.

"As far as we are concerned, this is a short-term measure while we look for a longer term solution."

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Barbara Ronson said: "I thought this was weird when it first came to use and now we've got more details I think it's even weirder.

"We are are boasting about getting school classrooms out of temporary buildings and now we find they are being used for patients."