HIGH demand from emergency patients has caused Oxfordshire to have the most cancelled operations in the country, it has been claimed.

Almost 800 planned operations in Oxfordshire have been cancelled over winter so far, the highest in the country.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust said “very high demand” was to blame for the number of cancelled procedures.

The trust said a rise in “very unwell” patients needing emergency care meant the planned operations had to be scrapped.

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Procedures can be cancelled because an emergency patient needs a bed earmarked for someone with a pre-booked procedure.

From November 3 to January 4, a total 792 operations were cancelled at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust sites like Oxford’s John Radcliffe.

This was almost double the next highest number of cancelled operations, at London’s Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which had 402 cancelled.

Alison Barnes, spokeswoman for the trust, one of the largest of its kind in England, said: “We are experiencing a very high level of demand on our urgent care services. We have seen an increase in very unwell patients attending our emergency departments who have needed to be admitted for further medical care.”

She said: “We only cancel planned admissions when we absolutely have to.”

Mrs Barnes added: “Our teams are working hard to prioritise the provision of safe, effective, dignified care for all patients.

“We want all of our patients to be referred and treated as quickly as possible and we are working with all our health and social care partners to improve the flow of patients in and out of our hospitals.”

Oxford East Labour MP Andrew Smith said staff were “doing a great job” but said: “This is a huge number of cancellations. It’s important to remember each one is a patient with their hopes and fears, and to go through having an expected operation called off will have been very distressing.”

He said: “It seems clear to me that the capacity of local health services needs to be increased, which is going to need extra funding.”

The figures come after the Oxford Mail last week reported the trust recorded its worst ever quarterly A&E waiting times since it was formed in 2011. From October to December, 86.1 per cent of patients were discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours of arrival.

The target is 95 per cent and it meant 4,327 of the 31,110 who attended the JR and Banbury’s Horton General were not seen in that time.

The trust also runs Headington’s Churchill Hospital and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and in 2013/14 had 88,453 planned admissions.

It added patients being too unwell to undergo planned operations, staffing pressures, “capacity” and patient cancellations can also see operations pulled.

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