‘DISAPPOINTED’ patients are facing cancelled surgeries as a ventilation system at the John Radcliffe Hospital remains broken.

The unknown issue, which was discovered on Thursday, has led to an 'urgent review' of all planned operations across Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's sites, which also include the Churchill, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Banbury’s Horton General.

A spokeswoman yesterday said the trust could still not give any timescale for the repairs but were “currently doing all that we can to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible.”

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The trust was also unable to confirm how many patients were likely to be affected, explaining: “We can’t provide an official figure on postponed operations at the moment as there are various services across the trust involved in the use of the theatres, and we are still collating the figures on how many operations need to be rearranged.

“Our priority is talking to patients and their families to rearrange their operations.”

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Jacquie Pearce-Gervis, head of Oxfordshire's Patient Voice, said the group had already been contacted by 'disappointed' people due to have operations who had now been told they were being cancelled. She added: “It is most unfortunate that operating theatres in the OUH are out of action down to problems with the ventilation system.

“The safety of the patients is of course paramount and we hope the the trust will have these theatres up and running to their entire satisfaction within a very short time and postponed surgeries can be rescheduled.”

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The ventilation issue has mean operating theatres on Level One of the John Radcliffe's West Wing cannot be used.

Four theatres in the main department are already out of action due to repair works begin in April, and the trust revealed the combined loss of operating space was 'significant'.

It comes after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) criticised the poor condition of operating theatres in a report published last week, which downgraded the overall rating of the trust from 'good' to 'requires improvement'.

Areas in some of the theatres and wards were described as 'damaged' and inspectors said they 'posed potential risks' to patient and staff safety.

The CQC ordered the trust to carry out some repairs in November and it must send a weekly update until further notice.