NHS Oxfordshire has been told to get its house in order after it was revealed too many patients were waiting more than four hours to be treated.

Over the past six months, about 90 people a month have waited too long to be seen in A&E departments at the John Radcliffe in Oxford and Horton in Banbury.

Hundreds of patients have also been waiting longer than 18 weeks for referral to hospital.

Six weeks ago regional health bosses became so concerned Government targets were not being met, they placed NHS Oxfordshire, the county’s primary care trust, into a process called Intervention.

Intervention – introduced in the South Central region last year – is carried out in stages which can include an external investigation, a management change, or in serious cases, a service restructure.

According to targets set by the Government, 98 per cent of them should be seen within four hours.

However, 97.19 per cent were seen within that timeframe in January in Oxfordshire.

Statistics from the same month show 255 patients waited longer than 18 weeks for inpatient or day case treatment, with Oral Surgery and Gynaecology patients among those waiting the longest.

The Strategic Health Authority, SHA, which oversees healthcare across nine PCTs in the region, ordered NHS Oxfordshire to carry out an internal investigation to improve the situation.

Since being put into Intervention, the trust has been reviewing A&E procedures and ploughing £1.5m into a new IT system.

The trust said Intervention had been lifted because the SHA was satisfied it would be hitting the targets this year.

PCT finance and performance director Matthew Tait said it had been taken “very seriously”.

He added: “Over the past six months the PCT has been working very hard to help reduce A& E waiting times and ensure patients are treated within 18 weeks of being referred to hospital.

“This has included a campaign to help reduce inappropriate attendances at A&E, which helps local people to know where to go when they are feeling ill.

“We were obviously working on these problems anyway, but it’s been beneficial for us to take a step back and make sure we’re doing everything possible to resolve them. There has been some added value as a result.”

Between 6,500 and 8,000 patients are seen at the county’s A&E departments each month.

Have you had to wait longer than four hours to be treated in A&E? Call us on 01865 425500