It is very disappointing that Bradford's bid for extra Government money to fast-track the treatment of heart patients has not been successful. Bradford Health Authority has been told that Hull, the centre chosen in this region instead, was awarded more than £500,000 for its similar project because it "fitted the national criteria best".

What are these national criteria if they ignore the fact that Bradford has the sixth highest incidence of coronary heart disease in the country? We are in sixth place, yet ten other regional partnerships around the country have been deemed better suited to receive a share of the £10 million available to provide rapid-response teams to help heart-attack victims.

Nor has the district had any success in its bid for a share of the additional £10 million made available to 26 UK heart centres to enable them to carry out more operations.

All is not lost, apparently. The regional NHS executive says that the projects chosen are national pilot schemes and if they are successful they will be replicated in other areas. There should surely be no excuses then for Bradford being overlooked.

Meanwhile, the Health Authority must press on with its own three-year plan to improve heart health and treatment in the Bradford area, which has a high proportion of people who for a range of reasons are vulnerable to coronary disease.

That plan was not dependent on any money being forthcoming from the latest windfall, fortunately, but an injection of extra money would have enabled targets to have been met sooner.