PATIENTS telephoning Bury General Hospital will have to communicate with a computer after May.

The hospital decided to introduce a digital switchboard at a meeting on Tuesday April 13.

The £21,000 scheme was proposed by David Clements, hospitals manager.

He aims to reduce the amount of time receptionists spend on routine calls and speed-up response times for callers.

Patients will be able to dial a department's extension number directly or wait for a list of options. An operator will be available as one of the options.

Mr Clements said: "We want to take pressure off our operators because the phone traffic is immense.

"The switchboard will allow people to go directly through to the department they want."

He stressed the hospital is aware that some people are afraid of digital switchboards and he will be looking at ways to reduce anxiety.

He added: "There is a concern that people who are telephoning for details about a friend or family member could feel stressed by the system. We are looking at ways to combat this."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.