More than 7,000 people across the Bradford district were given a GP referral for anxiety or depression in 2012-13, but only around a third accessed any treatment for their condition, according to latest figures.

The first annual statistics for the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme have been published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, giving details of the 884,000 referrals made across the UK.

Across Bradford in 2012-13, 7,740 patients were referred for some form of therapy by the district’s three Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) – Bradford City, Bradford Districts, and Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven – with 2,712, or 35 per cent, subsequently entering into a treatment programme.

This was lower than the national average of 49 per cent and below the overall 54 per cent average for West Yorkshire. Of the ten CCGs that make up the West Yorkshire region, the three in the Bradford district had the lowest number of patient referrals per head of population.

A spokesman for the three CCGs in the district said: “The percentage of patients in the three CCGs who currently receive therapy is 8.9 per cent for Bradford Districts, 7.5 per cent for Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven and 4.7 per cent for Bradford City, against the target of eight per cent agreed with NHS England.

“We recognise that the number of people referred in Bradford who accept the offer of therapy is below the national average, so we are working with Bradford District Care Trust, as the main provider of these services, to look at ways of improving this.”

Within the Bradford City CCG during 2012-13, there were 1,219 referrals made, with 418 patients entering a treatment programme.

For the Bradford Districts area, 1,498 people received treatment from a total of 4,467 referrals and in Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven, 796 patients were treated as a result of 2,054 CCG referrals.

Although many patients are choosing to decline treatment options, which could include cognitive behavioural therapy and counselling, recovery rates for the Bradford district are higher than other areas of the UK.