Health chiefs were considering ending keyhole' surgery at Wharfedale Hospital this summer following the death of a patient in Bradford but ended up opting for a less dramatic change.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust had said keyhole procedures on patients who need to stay in overnight would stop at the hospital in August.

Those cases would instead be dealt with at St James's Hospital, Leeds.

However, the trust's clinical centre director for clinical support services Brian Godfrey said the claims that there were plans to stop all laparoscopy in Otley were not inaccurate - just out of date.

He said: "It's true to say that around three weeks ago we were looking at ending laparoscopic surgery.

"One of the reasons for that was there was a fatal incident at Eccleshill during a laparoscopic operation. After that we looked at all of our peripheral sites and thought if things go wrong there how safe are they?

"But since then our two lead clinicians recommended that rather than stopping it we should go to a situation where the minimum risk patients are being treated at Wharfedale on a day-care basis, which is in line with a national drive."