Bradford's bid for fast-track treatment of heart patients has failed, despite the district having one of the highest death rates from coronary heart disease (CHD) in the country.

The Government has revealed Bradford is not on the list of health partnerships to receive a slice of the £10 million windfall for CHD care.

Instead ten other health authorities will be funded to provide rapid response teams for heart attack victims and eliminate bureaucracy in the system.

The district has also been denied a share of the extra cash for more operations in 26 heart centres in the UK.

Bradford Health Authority's director of planning, Paul Smith, today said the authority was disappointed at the decision.

"We made a bid to join a national partnership project which would have allowed us to further accelerate the improvements we have targeted in our three-year plan. Unfortunately, we were not successful in this bid but the three-year plan of improvements will go ahead."

More than £2.5 million extra would be invested in Bradford by the NHS over the next year, he added.

Bradford has the sixth highest incidence of CHD deaths in the UK and some of the most deprived areas in the country where the population is particularly at risk.

It was one of four partnerships of health authorities, Primary Care Groups and hospitals in the Northern and Yorkshire region to apply for the cash, including Hull, which was awarded more than half a million pounds for its project.

A spokesman for the region's NHS Executive said Hull had been chosen because it fitted the "national criteria the best''.

He added: "These are national pilot schemes and if they are successful, they will be replicated in other areas."

The chief executive of Bradford City Primary Care Group, Lynnette Throp, described the announcement as a disappointment.

She said: "It will not stop us addressing CHD as a partnership in Bradford. It would have been a boost but it will be business as usual."