Health bosses say the cost of running the city's two hospitals will be slashed by £9.5 million over the next five years.

It comes on top of plans to reduce the headquarters wage bill at Bradford Teaching Hospitals by £1 million during 2006 to make it "lean and efficient".

Letters have gone out to all headquarters staff asking them to consider voluntary redundancy or early retirement.

The cost-cutting plan is contained in Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's newly-published corporate strategy for 2006 to 2010, which has gone out to consultation.

The draft strategy states the trust will "... reduce the cost of running the hospitals by £9.5 million.

"This will not be done by reducing the level of care we provide to patients but by doing what we do more efficiently, such as buying the items we use and services other organisations provide for use."

Dean Johnson, director of performance and planning for the trust, said: "We have put in place a performance improvement programme and expect to be able to make savings of £9.5m.

"This will not be done by closing wards and reducing nursing posts - these are areas we want to increase. It will be through the way we organise our services and buy things."

The corporate strategy has been produced after a big public consultation to find new ways of taking the city's hospitals into a new era. The draft document has also gone out to public consultation.

The 26-page document contains detailed information on how services will change over the next few years. These include:

l getting rid of old-style Nightingale wards at Bradford Royal Infirmary where beds are arranged either side of a long room. They will be transformed into smaller areas of four to six beds and single rooms

l improving cleanliness by regular inspections by a trained team and making the results public so staff, patients and visitors can see how it is improving.

l getting the staff to only wear uniforms in the hospital to reduce the risk of transferring infections to patients. Support will be provided to staff to make sure this happens.

l both hospital sites will be developed but all acute patients - or patients requiring an overnight stay - will be treated at BRI.

l patients who visit A&E who do not need to be admitted but need to be watched for a few hours will be directed to a new "observation area" set up close to the A&E department.

l building dedicated facilities for day surgery and encouraging doctors to develop their skills to provide minimally invasive surgery.

l cutting waiting lists for expensive diagnostic equipment by using them for longer hours during the week and in the evenings and at weekends.

l vacating the Victorian buildings at St Luke's Hospital over the next two to three years. The trust will look at selling unused parts of the either hospital sites. The money would be used to refurbish areas of the hospital or for new buildings.

l developing a cancer centre to provide a focus for specialist and general cancer services. A digestive diseases centre will be the home for a new colorectal screening service. The centre would become the specialist centre in the west of West Yorkshire for people who have problems with their digestive system.

l breast surgery and reconstruction will also be provided from a single, integrated service.

l services for patients with heart disease or those who have had a stroke will be developed to minimise the long-term effects.

l other improvements to services include making the A&E department a focus for patients who need traditional GP services outside of normal hours and the trust will work with dentists to provide access to dental services 24 hours a day and possibly extend this to provide a full range of NHS dentistry.

Colin Sloane, chairman of Bradford Teaching Hospitals Patient and Public Involvement Forum, said he could not criticise anything in the plans to reduce the budget.

He added: "What stands out as good is plans for cancer treatment with a vision of bringing all services together in a central point.

"Introducing radiology so cancer patients do not have to go the Cookridge is a massive step forward. It is good, if it comes to fruition."