More staff at Bradford hospitals means patients are benefitting – particularly in A&E, says a health watchdog.

Monitor, the health sector regulator, started a probe into how services at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were being run after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) raised concerns over staffing levels.

Since then an extra 135 nurses as well as four new A&E consultants have been hired by the Trust to work at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital.

Monitor announced yesterday it had now closed its investigation due to the action taken by the Trust.

Its regional director Frances Shattock, said: “We have taken a very close look at how the trust is being run and why the issues identified by the CQC arose.

“We have now closed our investigation because the trust is taking action to improve the way it is run.”