A row over the shape of health services in the Bradford district is set to be re-ignited following a new call to axe red tape and plough savings into patient care.

A bitter debate was prompted last year by calls to consider merging health trusts which run hospitals and community health services in Bradford and Airedale.

Fears were raised by health bosses and staff in Airedale that services could be lost from that area, forcing patients to travel to Bradford for treatment if mergers went ahead.

Now Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe has reopened the debate in the wake of a successful bid for a Health Action Zone in Bradford and Keighley which will lead to pooling of budgets between organisations, cutting bureaucracy and freeing up money.

Mr Sutcliffe said a host of changes to the health service were in the pipeline and it was time to look at how services were organised to make sure Bradford maintained its position at the cutting edge in the wake of the Health Action Zone bid which gave the area a high profile.

"This gives an opportunity for all the partners in the bid to talk about configurations and get things right," he said.

"We are in the public eye as far as ministers are concerned and we need to cut bureaucracy and increase accountability.

"Rather than a big bang approach there needs to be sensible discussions between the trusts and the health authority to look at cutting the bureaucracy that still exists and improving patient care and morale of the workforce.''

Bob Allen, chief executive of Airedale NHS Trust, said there was no need to look at mergers.

Discussions were likely later this year about the shape of services in the light of forthcoming changes affecting GPs but it was too early to say what might change.

Ian Donnachie, chief executive of Bradford Health Authority, said there needed to be consensus over how health organisations would work together in coming years.

"While we may reach a natural point at which the management structure of organisations would need to be considered, we would not at this early stage view it as the most important matter we have to consider."

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