A man who has suffered crippling angina for six years is hoping a non-surgical form of treatment will give him his life back.

Roy Palfreyman has had four heart attacks and had to give up his job as a sheet metal worker because he was so ill.

He has exhausted all surgical operations and is even allergic to the medication which could relieve his angina.

But Mr Palfreyman, 50, of Wrose, is now going for outpatient treatment on a revolutionary machine at the Yorkshire Clinic in Bingley.

"I cannot walk around - I am limited to the house," he said. "And if I am really bad, I can't even manage to wash my hair.

"But I am now undergoing this treatment which is my only hope.

"I'm already feeling better and have a bit of colour in my cheeks."

Mr Palfreyman, an NHS patient, has so far been for five hour-long sessions of a 35-hour programme which costs about £9,000. He is pictured with expert Tom Lawton.

He plans a holiday if the treatment is successful.

His consultant, Dr Chris Morley, who is the lead cardiologist at Bradford Royal Infirmary, said he was delighted this treatment was now available.

"Roy has been through everything he can have for angina and everything has failed him," he said. "He has suffered enormously and been in and out of hospital."

Two other patients are undergoing the treatment, called Enhanced External Counter-pulsation (EECP), on the equipment which cost £200,000.

Ghazal Ghahri-Saremi, marketing and operations manager at Yorkshire Clinic, said the that director of the clinic brought the machine to the Bradford district after his father underwent successful treatment in America.

"This is the very first treatment centre for NHS and private patients and we are very proud to have brought it to Bradford," she said.

"What we have seen in other cases is that lots of patients start planning for the future.

"They are able to play with grandchildren again, go back to work and do gardening or play golf.

"It has a massive impact on patients' lives."

She said they were negotiating with Primary Care Trusts to make the treatment more widely available to NHS patients.

Anybody who wants to find out more about the equipment should ring the clinic on (01274) 201689.