The plan to improve the premises occupied by GP surgeries and expand the facilities they are able to offer is one which will surely meet with the approval of patients everywhere in Bradford, where the four Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) are blazing a £60 million health-care trail.

The Lift project is yet another pioneering scheme for a district which is making quite a name for itself for innovation in medical matters. The idea of a public/private partnership to build new clinics and health centres is being seen as a way of funding improvements that could not be provided by the NHS on its own.

For many practices the changes won't come a day too soon. The GPs based at them are striving to provide a good service for their patients in overcrowded premises which simply were not designed to cope with the demands of 2003 and beyond.

However, this is no overnight cure-all. The full programme of improvements has been given a 25-year timescale. Even so, Phase One alone will see 24 GP practices move into new accommodation with room for at least 13 more GPs. Particularly encouraging is that there will also be facilities for minor surgery and diagnostic treatment, much of which is now only available at the district's major hospitals.

A change of this sort will mean that people will be able to have smaller problems dealt with and symptoms checked out much closer to their homes. It will also take the pressure off hard-pressed departments at the BRI, St Luke's and Airedale General hospitals.