Health chiefs want to open an out-of-hours GP clinic at Bradford Royal Infirmary to cut waiting times at the hospital's busy A&E department.

The option, which is being looked at by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in partnership with the district's primary care trusts, is also hoped to reduce incidents of violence or abuse against staff by frustrated patients.

Trust officials believe an out-of-hours GP clinic is needed at the A&E so it can meet tough new Department of Health performance targets which come into force next January and require every casualty patient to be treated then either admitted or discharged within four hours.

The Trust has already met this year's target with 97 per cent of patients passing through A&E being dealt with in that set time, but it has admitted next year's target is a "tough challenge".

A Trust spokesman said: "We recognise the 100 per cent target from January will be a tough challenge and we are in discussion with our primary care trust partners with a view to looking at how we can finance and achieve it.

"Ideas include the possibility of basing an out-of-hours GP service alongside the A&E unit at the BRI and extra staffing for the department but these are all in the very early stages of discussions."

The A&E unit already gets extra support from GPs, who deal with minor illnesses and injuries, during weekday evenings and at weekends.

Cath Nuttall, the Trust's operational director for A&E, said: "That support has helped us reach our targets and I think to have an out-of-hours service adjacent to us would be a very positive step. Working closely with the GPs and building a robust relationship with clear communication between us will benefit everyone."

Mrs Nuttall said shorter waiting times in the A&E could also help reduce the number of incidents of violence against staff.

The Telegraph & Argus is campaigning to end the ever-rising levels of abuse against hospital staff in the district.

"Since waiting times in A&E have improved there have also been fewer incidents of abuse against our staff," said Mrs Nuttall. "We will still get drunks and people who come in and behave badly but the message is that kind of conduct will not be tolerated."

From the end of this year all primary care trusts will take over responsibility of organising out-of-hours cover for GPs.

The services will have to be provided by primary care trusts themselves, private sectors or ambulance trusts.

Yesterday health minister John Hutton pledged the new out-of-hours services would be audited regularly to make sure patients received the best quality care.

A spokesman for Bradford City Teaching Primary Care Trust and Bradford South and West PCT said: "There are plans to move the emergency out-of-hours GP service centre, which is based within BRI, to existing premises which will be specially adapted next to the A&E department.

"This move, planned for later this year, will improve communication between the emergency GPs and A&E, and provide better facilities for those GPs and their patients.

"We hope that some patients who attend A&E with relatively minor ailments will instead use the out-of-hours phone service to have their condition assessed and so avoid an unnecessary A&E wait."