Hospital chiefs are pioneering management methods used in car manufacturing to improve the lot of patients.

They call on staff at Airedale Hospital to be more alert to possible faults, to tackle waste and to flag up areas of improvement, especially in the battle for better hygiene.

The LEAN concept will be rolled out across the trust throughout this year and it could be used as a model nationally.It is being copied from Japanese car maker Toyota where systems faults and production levels have been vastly improved, making it one of the most efficient car manufacturers in the world.

Airedale NHS Trust chief executive, Adam Cairns, said there was no reason why the same workplace culture could not be replicated in the Steeton-based hospital.

A similar scheme but designed for a health environment had been set up in a hospital in the US where a ten per cent infection level, relating to a particular procedure in the chest, had been completely eliminated.

"They had designed a method where it was impossible to introduce infection. That is where we should be aiming," Mr Cairns said.

He revealed that similar principles were already being used in Airedale's labour ward where a number of steps had been identified.

The result was that waiting times for scans of babies with potential growth problems had been reduced from six weeks to 24 hours. "Everything we do should add value and nothing unnecessary should be carried out.

"The patient should be the sole focus and all those things not of value to patients should not be there," he added.

He said Airedale's initiative involved the introduction of a Lean Healthcare Academy which was aimed at introducing the kind of culture where staff were encouraged to be alert to the potential of making improvements.

As a result, training schemes in which virtual' scenarios - designed to help people spot where improvements could be made - had been introduced.

It also involved the use of on-line technology as well as traditional classroom-based learning and support for bringing the scheme into practice on the wards.

l Finance boss Robert Toole said an agreement had been reached between the trust and North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust over payments Airedale was owed.

Fears had been expressed that the PCT, which had the worse NHS debt in the country, might default on what it owed Airedale for its work.

Airedale, which is bidding to become a Foundation Trust, is on line to break even at the end of the year.

Mr Toole said: "A formal agreement has been made over the unpaid work. It will be paid.

"This a mark of the good work by our team working very closely with the PCT."