MEASURES to ease the pressure on local hospitals during the winter months have been announced by the local health board.

Bury and Rochdale Health Authority are to open three high dependency beds and one intensive care bed to allow more seriously ill patients to be be treated locally.

The money for the beds will be paid for from the health authority's £771,000 share of the extra £150 million government cash allocated to authorities across the country.

The three new extra high dependency beds in Rochdale will take the town's critical care bed total to seven. They will be in use in the new Rochdale Infirmary development in January, along with the transfer of their four existing intensive care beds from Birch Hill Hospital. Bury General will receive an extra intensive care bed in October taking their total to four. Extra staff are being recruited to help run the new beds. Mr Richard Popplewell, chief executive of Bury and Rochdale Health Authority, said: "The extra beds for Bury and Rochdale will allow more patients to receive local care and reduce the need for them to be transferred further from their home for specialist care.

"To allow the extra beds to open, there will be an increase in the amount of highly qualified staff looking after local people.

"The latest investment brings the total amount of critical care beds in Bury and Rochdale to 11."

He added: "The authority, together with the rest of the health and social care community in Bury and Rochdale, is involved in putting together a wide ranging winter plan to allow us to cope with the busy months without compromising patient care.

"These extra beds will help to ease the pressures further and are part of the package of measures."