Hospital waiting lists in the Bradford district have plummeted to their lowest levels this decade.

Delighted health chiefs today praised hard-working hospital staff in Bradford and Airedale who achieved one of the biggest reductions in in-patient waiting lists in the country.

Waiting lists across the area for non-urgent treatment at the end of March stood at 10,724 - below the 10,895 target set by NHS chiefs last year. It means the number of patients waiting for in-patient surgery fell by 14 per cent from 12,429 a year ago, bringing them to the lowest year-end level this decade.

The number of patients waiting more than 12 months for treatment fell from 350 a year ago to 26. All are waiting for highly specialist treatment outside the district.

Health chiefs hope the success will be repeated in the coming year when a further reduction in in-patient and day case waiting times of 650 patients will have to be achieved on top of new targets for outpatients. The reductions mean a target set by Government ministers to reduce waiting lists to pre-election levels has been met although a zero target for people waiting more than a year is still to be reached.

Ann Wagner, director of performance management at Bradford Health Authority, said it was a great achievement by everyone involved. The reduction was the toughest target in the region and one of the biggest in the country.

The success was down to factors including staff working extra hours in the evenings and at weekends, more efficient and effective use of theatre time and good winter planning which meant no routine operations had been cancelled.

Malcolm Poad, of Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "It's quite a remarkable achievement and is just a reflection of how hard all the staff in the Trust have worked."

Barrie Scholfield, chairman of Bradford Community Health Council, was also full of praise although he added that many people were still waiting a long time. "I look forward to further improvements in both shorter waiting lists and shorter lengths of waiting."

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