DATA that ranked Oxfordshire’s major hospitals trust as the worst in England for cancelling routine operations could have been counted twice, it has been claimed.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUHT) rejected NHS England statistics released this week to show how trusts are coping with winter pressures.

The data shows OUHT cancelled 161 elective operations between November 4 and 13. But an OUHT spokesman said the data had ‘not been validated’ and the number of cancelled operations could have been given more than once from different sources.

He added: “We have been sending the raw data before it has been properly analysed and with the caveat that it is unvalidated because NHS England has requested this information for the new weekly winter report.

“From one service area to another the number of cancellations could be double counted.”

The latest validated data shows OUHT cancelled just 157 routine operations in July, August and September – 0.7 per cent in total. OUHT currently produces only the validated data bi-monthly, but systems could be replaced within the next year to 18 months.

The trust was unable to say how many other trusts used similar systems.

NHS England said it was up to OUHT to make sure the figures it was providing were correct.

The dispute comes after Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth accused the Government's Communities Secretry Eric Pickles of getting his figures wrong in a row over budgets.