Health Secretary Alan Milburn today swept into Bradford to praise the quality of care delivered by doctors and nurses in the city.

Opening the newly- revamped accident and emergency department, Mr Milburn was quick to praise the work of staff.

As he unveiled a plaque marking the end of the £5.5 million revamp of the department at Bradford Royal Infirmary he said: "What is very striking is the quality of care that people have delivered here.

"Bradford now has a state-of-the-art accident and emergency department and the important thing is that it has been designed by the doctors and nurses themselves."

He added that it was a model he wished to see throughout the country and he hoped more doctors and nurses in hospitals would help to shape the future of facilities.

"Now what we have got is a first-rate team of people and first-rate facilities. It means that the people of Bradford will now be getting first-rate care."

The old accident and emergency unit had been described by staff as "almost Third World".

Plans for the new department were given the go-ahead by Bradford City Council in March 1998. Over a two-year period, the once cramped and out-dated conditions have been developed into a clean, spacious, state-of-the-art department which is now one of the most modern and technologically advanced in Europe.

The original casualty department, which dated from the 1930s, was only a fifth the size of the new department and was designed to treat less than a third of the current workload.

During the three separate phases which saw the modernisation completed, staff were housed in temporary accommodation and often forced to work in difficult conditions.

They faced a daily barrage of abuse and violence from people demanding treatment and security was stepped up.

Doctors themselves branded existing conditions as 'Third World' in quality when the new multi-million pound project was announced in September 1996.

At the time, A&E consultant Tony Shenton said: "We have the busiest department in Yorkshire and yet we've got the worst facilities and the least space. We can't continue as we are for much longer."

Mr Shenton, head of the service, said he now worked in one of the best casualty departments in the country and said already the improvements in service were evident to patients.

Those improvements now include a range of hi-tech security measures, a ten-bay resuscitation area, spacious and light waiting areas, modern treatment cubicles, on-the-spot x-ray machines for better care of the critically injured and the latest monitoring equipment, costing £80,000.

Patients at the unit - the third busiest in the country with more than 120,000 visitors a year - are now able to be assessed initially by staff in more privacy than before and there is improved accommodation for bereaved relatives.

A separate area for children - including a waiting area, play facilities and paediatric examination and treatment rooms - which is more children-friendly than previously has also been built. During the alteration work, staff praised the public's help in minimising disruption by not attending the department unless they required urgent treatment.

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