More than 10,000 Bradford patients are on hospital waiting lists for operations.

Figures presented to Bradford Health Authority also show 3,834 people have waited more than 13 weeks for their first out-patient appointment after being referred by their family doctors.

The health authority has set a target of only 2,798 waiting more than three months for first appointments, which the various hospitals treating Bradford patients are working to hit.

And the trusts have been given targets that by the end of March, no patients should be waiting more than a year for surgery. At the end of last month, 31 Bradford patients had waited more than 12 months for operations at Bradford Hospitals Trust, 24 at Leeds and 14 at other hospitals throughout the country.

There were no patients waiting more than 12 months at Airedale General Hospital.

Paul Smith, director of planning at the health authority, told the authority board that the district's Primary Care Groups, which buy hospital care for their residents, have agreed plans to achieve targets for the number of patients waiting for appointments and for admission.

A spokesman for Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Throughout the last year, we have had some tough waiting list targets to meet and we are on course to meet all of these targets, except in one speciality.

"Because of its nature, plastic surgery is a very difficult speciality to plan for.

"Some of the emergency cases take up a whole theatre list to deal with and unfortunately it's an area where, by the end of March, we are not going to have all our patients waiting less than 12 months for treatment."

Barrie Scholfield, chairman of Bradford Community Health Council, said he would be raising concerns about the trust's waiting list failures during a meeting with Bradford NHS Hospital Trust chief executive David Jackson today.

He said: "We are disappointed to note the targets have not been achieved and we would expect better from the trust this forthcoming year."

Anyone with concerns is asked to contact the Community Health Council via its Health Action Link on (01274) 392762 whereby points raised are put to relevant chief executives.

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