Hundreds of doctors have applied for only a handful of jobs at Bradford's Accident and Emergency department.

The unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary is attracting national attention for its quality of training and work.

Consultant Pete Bradley said the department had received 250 applications from doctors for four jobs due to start in August.

And Bradford's casualty department has also set up the first rotation scheme for junior doctors in the north of England. Doctors at senior house officer grade who want to specialise in accident and emergency work will be based in Bradford but also work at other district general hospitals in the area - to offer them wider experience.

Mr Bradley said he had received about 100 applications for the new rotation jobs.

Bradford has also organised top-quality induction training for senior house officers, which now attracted staff from other hospitals including Airedale and Halifax.

"When the casualty officers start we teach them with a weekend induction course," he said.

"We pay extra doctors to stay on overnight to babysit them for their first few nights on duty."

Doctors from across the country - from Southampton to Edinburgh - have expressed an interest in coming to work in the city, which has one of the busiest departments nationally.

"It's one of the ways to improve the service for the people of Bradford. The better the medical staff, the better the research and the better the service for patients," Mr Bradley said.

The department is still in temporary accommodation as a new £4 million unit is constructed, but work is well ahead of schedule, said Mr Bradley, and is due to finish in September.

Mr Bradley is to present a paper on the process running up to the development of the new unit at an international conference of accident and emergency physicians, being held in Boston in America.

Called Bricks and Torture, his paper will outline the problems of getting the cash and recognition from bodies which saw Bradford as the poor cousin of Leeds.

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