A RISE in the number of cancelled operations in Oxfordshire’s major hospitals over the winter is being blamed on an increase in patient numbers.

New figures released by the Department of Health show 252 patients booked in for procedures at the John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals, Oxford, and the Horton, Banbury, were cancelled between December and March.

The figure was 189 in the four months before that and 190 for December to March last year, with the new cancellation total the highest in the region.

Rises in patient numbers in the autumn significantly added to pressure on the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the three hospitals and is faced with cutting £44m from its budget.

News of the cancellations increase follows an apology issued by the trust in October in response to complaints about delayed operations at the John Radcliffe.

On that occasion, Elaine Strachan-Hall, director of nursing and clinical leadership, said that the trust had been taken by surprise by an influx of patients.

The numbers needing emergency treatment meant that the less urgent cases were having to wait longer, she told The Oxford Times.

To address the problems the hospital said it would be creating an extra 70 beds and more operating time.

But the new figures suggest that the pressure of numbers has, in fact, worsened.

A trust spokesman said: “The number of patients coming to the ORH has been above planned levels.

“When you have to prioritise emergency patients, it does impact on routine cases and lead to cancellations.”

The spokesman added that heavy snow in January also had an impact on the figure.

Patients who cancelled operations themselves because of difficulties travelling into Oxford during the snow are not included in the figures.

In 2008-9 some 79,000 operations were carried out in ORH Trust hospitals, of which 553 were cancelled, representing 0.7 per cent of operations.

The number of operations rose to 82,700 in 2009/10, with 877 cancellations. This represented 1.06 per cent.

But the cancellations in the last quarter of the year rose to 1.23 per cent of the total in that three-month period.

Jacqueline Pearce-Gervis, chairman of the Oxfordshire patients’ group, Patient Voice, said: “I know somebody who has had an operation cancelled three times.”