BRADFORD'S various health and social care systems are so complex, they look like a "handful of spaghetti" in diagram form, according to Bradford Council leader David Green.

Cllr Green, who chairs the district's Health and Wellbeing Board, argued the case for a simpler and more integrated care system at a meeting yesterday.

He said: "I have always described the current system as: pick up a handful of spaghetti, throw it against a wall and see where it lands."

Bradford's health and social care services had applied to become a national 'vanguard' of simpler, integrated services, but this funding bid was unsuccessful, the meeting heard.

However, Cllr Green said he hoped the district would press ahead with the work despite this.

Helen Hirst, of the Bradford City and Bradford District Clinical Commissioning Groups, said this would involve making huge organisational changes.

She said: "If we are serious about designing a new model of care for the people of this district, it won't happen by us doing a little bit of joint commissioning over here or having chats over there."

But she said it would be hard to do the work needed without funding.

She said: "We are struggling at the moment because we are trying to do it on a shoestring really."

Cllr Green said no-one had come to him to ask for money.

He said perhaps funds could be found from within council or health budgets to fund the restructure.

He said: "It's not the council putting dosh in, it's all the partners putting dosh in, or resources of some kind."