MORE THAN 100 patients across Oxfordshire had planned operations cancelled last month.

Figures released by NHS England on Monday show 129 patients had their surgery cancelled by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUHT) in the first two weeks of December.

That equates to an average of nine a day. Between October and December 2013 an average of two operations a day were cancelled.

Comparable figures for 2014 were not available as NHS England has not released statistics for the last two weeks of December.

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The figures were released by the health body as part of its “winter daily situation reports” for early December to “indicate where there are any winter pressures on the service around the country”.

It focuses on elective surgeries, which are not considered as medical emergencies and are therefore booked in advance.

They include procedures such as cataract surgery, mastectomy and hernia surgery.

During the summer, between July and September 2014, 1.4 operations a day were cancelled.

Labour MP for Oxford East Andrew Smith said: “These cancellations underline how critical the pressures are facing the NHS.

“It’s always distressing for patients when operations are cancelled, and very worrying that this year cancellations seem to be running at a higher rate.

“As an MP I get a steady trickle of complaints about cancelled operations and delayed appointments.”

The statistics came after the Oxford Mail revealed on Monday Oxfordshire hospitals had recorded their worst quarterly A&E waiting times since 2011.

Between October and December only 86.1 per cent of the 31,110 patients visiting A&E were discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours of arrival, lagging behind the target of 95 per cent.

Paul Brennan, director of clinical services at OUHT, said: “We are experiencing a very high level of demand on our urgent care services at the present time.

“We have seen an increase in very unwell patients attending our Emergency Departments who have needed to be admitted for further medical care.

“We also have well documented problems in being able to discharge patients to the next stage of their care whether at home, to intermediary care beds, community hospitals or nursing homes.

“However, we are doing our best to balance the needs of our emergency patients with those needing ‘elective’ or planned care and we only cancel planned admissions when we absolutely have to.”

OUHT said elective operations were cancelled for a variety of reasons including patient cancellations, staffing pressures and urgent cases taking priority.

The trust also said the NHS England figures quoted had not been checked for human error, unlike the 2013 figures.

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