Fears of a winter beds crisis at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital intensified with news that the county's main hospital was already full this week.

An appeal went out to GPs across Oxfordshire, urging them not to send patients to the JR or Banbury's Horton Hospital to help ease the pressure.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust remained insistent that its decision to close 180 beds, to help make savings of £33m, would not result in patients being turned away.

But two emails obtained by the Oxford Mail paint a worrying picture of the hospitals entering winter with "minimal capacity" as they prepare for big rises in patient numbers.

An email sent on Monday to GP practices by the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust warned: "All beds at the JR are currently full with patients being seen in Accident and Emergency resulting in a backlog of services.

"This situation has continued all weekend which has resulted in difficulties for community services and will be reviewed today."

A followup email on Tuesday appealed to doctors across the county to cut back on the number of patients being sent to hospitals.

It warns: "The pressure on the whole system continues. ORH (Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals) have informed us there is minimal capacity at the Horton and John Radcliffe Hospital.

"If GPs could not send patients in, that would ease the pressure. There is also pressure on the Ambulance Service."

One of the emails said all surgical patients were having to go to the Horton as part of "a full county divert".

Oxford GP Ann McPherson said that GPs had been receiving information about hospitals being full over several weeks. She said: "I just ignore the emails if I believe someone needs to be admitted.

"I believe the closure of beds will have an enormous impact. At the moment, we are seeing some division between GPs and consultants."

Trust spokesman Helen Peggs played down the significance of the alert sent to GPs, blaming two busy days.

She said the number of beds available was monitored hourly. Ms Peggs said: "It is normal for Mondays and Tuesdays to be extremely busy.

"Patients are not being turned out. We are not refusing to take them in."

She said cancelled operations or a failure to meet A&E waiting time targets would be the real indicators of pressure on beds, but the trust's plans allowed for extra pressure on beds in winter.

An ORH spokesman confirmed the JR had been full earlier in the week, adding: "It is still very busy at the moment, but there is now some spare capacity."