A self-employed builder waited more than 32 hours for an urgent operation in Bradford because there was no theatre space available.

Stephen Bell, 58, severed tendons, muscles and exposed bones in his right hand after an accident with a circular saw while working on a house in Rastrick. He went to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary where doctors said he needed to be transferred to Bradford Royal Infirmary for urgent specialist treatment.

But despite the fact Mr Bell was told by doctors the operation should take place within 24 hours of the accident to ensure optimum mobility was maintained, it did not take place until 32 hours later.

His wife Pat said: "The experience with the saw was extremely traumatic but this was exacerbated by the problems we experienced trying to get the correct treatment.

"The unforgivable time delay was caused not by a lack of professionals available to do the very intricate procedure." The couple said they were told the surgeon on duty had been waiting since early Thursday morning to get into theatre to do the operation."

The time delay also included a three-and-a-half hour wait at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary while a West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance could be found to make the transfer to Bradford.

Mr Bell suffered his accident at 3pm on Wednesday, September 28. It was not until 11pm the next day he was taken to theatre where the open wound was cleaned and stitched. The family say extra theatre space should be made available to prevent this happening again.

The couple, of Camborne Drive, Fixby, have written letters of complaint to Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, WYMAS and Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt.

A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "We strive to provide the best quality of care for all our patients, treating them in order of clinical priority. We regret those occasions when a patient is not entirely satisfied with the care received because, at exceptionally busy times, we have not been able to carry out surgery as quickly as we would have hoped. We have received a letter from Mr Ball and his family and are currently looking into the points that have been raised."

A spokesman for WYMAS said: "We apologise to Mr Bell and his family for any distress caused. On this day we experienced high volumes of category 'A' life threatening emergencies, which had to take priority. However, usually we have enough resources to cover both medical emergencies and urgent requests for West Yorkshire."