Hospital facilities in Bradford are to be improved and waiting lists slashed thanks to a £20 million injection.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital, is using the money to modernise facilities and install the latest medical technology.

The cash includes the trust's capital expenditure programme and extra funding given for a variety of reasons, including the trust's retention of top three-star status in hospital performance ratings earlier this year.

Next month a new £15 million block of three wards and six operating theatres will open at Bradford Royal Infirmary, with the capacity to treat 10,000 more people each year.

The majority of the cash has been given by West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority.

Other developments include:

l improved radiology accommodation to house a second MRI scanner and an extra CT scanner

l more space for outpatient clinics at St Luke's Hospital through transforming offices

l a new infectious diseases and sexual health department at Trinity Road, Bradford

l improvements to the maternity unit and ear, nose and throat department at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

More facilities for disabled people, extra car parking and better offices are also planned.

Trust chief executive David Jackson said: "These developments are a major step forward for hospital services for the people of Bradford."