Health Secretary Frank Dobson will decide the future of the last in-patient ward at Bingley Hospital.

Bradford Health Authority chiefs yesterday unanimously backed plans to permanently close the 17-bed Rowan Ward which was used for the rehabilitation of elderly people before they went home after suffering serious injury or illness.

Airedale NHS Trust bosses shut the ward as a temporary measure in January last year and transferred services to Airedale General Hospital in an effort to meet increased demands for emergency care for the elderly.

A public consultation was launched last year on the closure which led to a flood of opposition including objections from the patient watchdog in Airedale.

The decision by health chiefs now means the final say will be given to Mr Dobson.

A board meeting of the health authority yesterday heard it would cost an estimated £750,000 in maintenance alone on the Bingley Hospital site to re-use the ward for in-patients and an extra £228,000 on refurbishment of the ward.

Ann Wagner, the authority's director of performance management, said the decision to switch services to Airedale Hospital came at a time when there was major pressure on emergency services and it was feared patients could be turned away to other hospitals. The decision averted crisis and the beds had since been almost permanently in use.

Extra resources had been pumped into rehabilitation care in the community including new NHS nursing home beds, extra district nurses and specialist therapists. Early indications were this had been successful.

Brenda Robb, vice chairman of Airedale Community Health Council, said Bingley Hospital had been deliberately allowed to run down by the Trust despite warnings from the watchdog. She added: "If things are run down far enough it gets to the point where it gets too expensive to put them right."

l The meeting also heard that numbers of patients waiting more than a year in the Bradford district for non-urgent hospital operations have fallen.

A total of 660 people had been waiting more than 12 months for treatment at the end of last month compared to 1,006 in January which were the worst ever figures in the area.

But the total number of patients waiting for treatment had actually risen over the same period from 12,305 to 12,369. The fall follows a decision by ministers to pump £690,000 into waiting list initiatives.

Further reductions are expected this month when about 365 people will have been waiting between a year and 18 months for treatment.

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