HEALTH bosses have been forced to scale down ambitious plans to revamp services for some of their most vulnerable patients. Wigan and Bolton Health Authority will invest £600,000 in services for the elderly mentally ill over three years - but the Hospitals Trust wanted more than a £1 million to bring their plans to fruition. At a meeting of the authority yesterday Mike Ruane, Chief Executive of Wigan and Bolton Health Authority, said: "One of the most difficult jobs the health authority has to do is decide on where its priorities are. Picking out one scheme above another is one of the most important and difficult jobs we have to do and it is important we get the balance right.

"We have built up an expectation in Bolton that there will be an improvement in the service to the elderly mentally ill and there will be, although it will not be on the scale set down by the Hospitals Trust which we have asked to provide this service for us."

Mr Ruane told the meeting the first year's investment would focus on building up the level of services for these patients within the community.

In the second and third year the building costs to develop a new facility for the frail elderly on the Hulton Lane site, to close Fall Birch and J2 Ward, will all come on line, as will the development of a residential facility, also on the Hulton Lane site.

Quality

These developments will cost £400,000. Bolton Hospitals Trust, working alongside Westminster Healthcare, will be responsible for providing a better quality of care for a group of patients many feel have had a raw deal.

Mrs Jane Monks, vice chairman of the Health Authority, questioned whether the £600,000 identified would be enough to ensure the scheme was completed.

But Mr John Seddon, chairman of Bolton Community Health Council which has been battling for several years to improve facilities, welcomed the scheme.

He said: "I am delighted to see some movement forward, it has been eight years since we first started talking about the development of services on the Hulton site.

"If we keep talking it will be another five years before something is done. We have some very dedicated nurses at Fall Birch and the hospital and we owe it to them, the patients and the carers too to move forward with this scheme."

Mr John Brunt, chief executive of Bolton Hospitals Trust which will be discussing the issue at its meeting today, said he was "concerned" about the difference in the level of funding.

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