Health chiefs have admitted they face an uphill struggle to meet hospital waiting list targets.

Latest figures show waiting lists for non-urgent hospital operations in December rose for the second month running by 273 to 12,519 people from the Bradford district.

It means Bradford is nearly 10 per cent, or nearly 1,200 patients, behind in efforts to meet a Government-set target of 10,895 by the end of March.

The latest rise, revealed in figures to be presented to Bradford Health Authority at a meeting on Wednesday, comes on top of an increase in November when Bradford's was the second worst performance in the country.

It has come in spite of advice from national experts called in to deal with the problem and the appointment of a special waiting list buster.

Most of the additional patients are waiting for treatment at St Luke's Hospital and Bradford Royal Infirmary. Airedale NHS Trust recorded a fall in its waiting list last month.

The only bright spot is a drop in the number of people waiting over 12 months for treatment which stands at 548, down 11 on the November position, although still well short of a target of zero to be achieved in the next three months.

Ann Wagner, director of performance management at Bradford Health Authority, admitted it would be a tough battle to meet the March target but huge efforts would be made to get there.

"We haven't admitted defeat yet. It is a tough hill to climb but we are all still committed to the target and everyone is working flat out," she said.

"We will try to treat as many patients as we can."

She said more than 5,000 extra patients over and above those treated last year would be seen this year while efforts to deal with everyone who had waited more than 12 months to be treated were still on course.

The target to reduce waiting lists by 13 per cent to March 1995 levels this year was among the toughest in the country. Problems had come with an unexpected increase in referrals for hospital treatment, she said.

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