BURY health bosses are to get more than £90,000 to fund new ways of looking after patients who need urgent care in A & E departments.

The NHS Executive North West has announced that Bury Health Care NHS Trust will receive £17,942 as its allocation for 2001-2 and a further £73,561 the following financial year.

Emergency care for NHS patients in the North West is set to improve following a massive cash injection of £11.3 million by the Government.

This cash is earmarked for A & E departments, NHS walk-in centres and other parts of the health service. The additional money will be available in the region to implement the Government's £100 million strategy for reducing long waits in A & E departments and cancelled operations.

Overall, the Government package consists of £50 million, spread over two years, for additional A & E nurses and to support the development of the emergency care strategy.

And £50 million is also being spent during 2001-02 to buy additional procedures, particularly from the private sector, to reduce bed occupancy in the NHS.

A total of £4.2 million, with a further £3.38 million for the new financial year, has been allocated to North West Trusts with A & E departments to enable them to recruit additional nurses to support the introduction of streaming.

In addition, the region will receive around £7 million to fund the treatment of 1,900 patients from the waiting list.