Bradford's MPs are demanding an urgent meeting with Health Secretary John Reid over the cash crisis engulfing the city's two hospitals.

It comes after health chiefs announced that wards for women and the elderly at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital will close - and that cuts were "inevitable".

MPs are "concerned" because David Jackson, chief executive of Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust which runs the hospitals, had promised them that patient care "would not suffer".

The row is embarrassing for the Government because the Trust was one of the first hospitals granted foundation status but now faces being reduced from a three to a one-star rating.

Bradford West MP Marsha Singh, Bradford North's Terry Rooney, Shipley's Chris Leslie and local peer Baroness Lockwood are seeking talks with Mr Reid after they held a crisis meeting.

Bradford South's MP Gerry Sutcliffe, who supports them, was unable to attend the meeting because of Trade Department commitments.

Mr Singh, a Labour backbencher, said: "We want an urgent meeting with John Reid to discuss the situation. It is extremely worrying.

"We are very concerned that David Jackson has told the Telegraph & Argus that patient service will inevitably suffer because the Trust is so much in the red.

"We were given assurances that they would not suffer, which is correct. We are concerned that cuts seem to be done on a very ad hoc basis, with little consultation of staff and patients.

"We want to impress upon the Health Secretary that there are serious problems in Bradford that need addressing."

In the past, Mr Reid has been reluctant to intervene in matters involving foundation hospitals, insisting that the extra freedoms they have received means it is wrong for the Government to interfere.

The T&A reported recently that around 39 staff would be affected by the latest closures which are part of health bosses' plan to tackle the projected £11.3 million deficit.