The in-patient rehabilitation service for elderly Keighley people has disintegrated with the closure of the last ward at Bingley hospital, it is claimed.

Airedale Community Health Council, which represents patients' interests, is one of the 17 groups or individuals who have objected to proposals to make permanent the temporary closure of the last remaining in-patient ward and the transfer of 16 emergency beds for the elderly to Airedale hospital.

During 1996 143 people were admitted for an average 47 days. Numbers were almost equally divided between Bingley residents - 44 per cent - and Keighley, Worth Valley and South Craven - 41 per cent. Small numbers came from Cullingworth, Denholme and Wilsden.

Bradford Health Authority, which has carried out formal consultations into Airedale NHS Trust plans, has referred the matter to Health Secretary Frank Dobson for a decision.

Objectors include the Worth Valley Health Consortium, which buys care for patients in eight GP practices, and the new Keighley Carers Forum.

Supporters include other health authorities and NHS professionals who see the proposals as a sensible response to the national trend for more emergency admissions.

Those opposed say the six beds made available at Thompson Court, Crossflatts, have meant short stays for respite care being cancelled. They say community support, which is not available for 24 hours a day, is no substitute for hospital stays.

But Airedale NHS Trust says it would cost £750,000 for bring Bingley hospital up to date and it does not have the funds.

Airedale NHS Trust is getting the £250,000 it asked for to help it cope with the 305 people who have been waiting too long for in-patient treatment.

The government gave Bradford Health Authority £680,000 to cut waiting lists and Bradford Hospitals' NHS Trust got the rest of the cash to deal with 400 long-waiting patients.

The government says no one should wait more than 18 months for treatment, but the Northern and Yorkshire regional target is a year. At the end of December 1,015 Bradford residents were waiting over a year as priority was given to emergency cases.

The largest rise in figures from the Bradford health authority area during the final quarter of last year was in Airedale, where the number of people waiting longer than patient charter standards require leapt from 62 to 155.

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