THE county’s health trust ‘cannot rule out’ further bed closures ahead of the winter months as its struggles to recruit staff.

Nearly a quarter of beds across Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s (OUH) have already been temporarily closed this year.

Last year the Trust ordered the public to avoid A&E over the winter except in cases of dire need as its hospitals became stretched.

Staffing pressures have taken out 92 beds, 100 have gone as part of an NHS shake-up and almost 100 more are not in use due to ‘bed-blocking’.

And now OUH, which runs the John Radcliffe and the Churchill Hospital, has said it cannot guarantee there will not be any more temporary closures as the NHS heads into winter when there is a spike in demand for beds.

Director of clinical services Paul Brennan could not confirm when the out-of-action beds would be re-opened.

He said: “In common with trusts up and down the country we are experiencing difficulties in recruiting and retaining nursing staff which is having an impact on our ability to keep beds open. We are working hard to recruit new clinical staff and improve the retention of existing employees.

“Our difficulty in transferring patients who are medically fit to leave hospital to the next stage of their care is also a contributing factor to the number of beds we have available for acutely ill patients.

“We continue to work with our partners in providing health and social care locally to enable patients to get home as soon as possible with the right care packages.

In the latest figures from July, only 90.44 per cent of registered nurse and midwife shifts were filled and 89.27 per cent for nursing assistants.

The recent board quality reports also showed vacancy rates were high in a number of departments including adult intensive care, neurosciences, orthopaedics and trauma.

Vacancies on children’s wards and the rehabilitation and cardiac division were also considered high.

The county’s hospitals are now working at a bed occupancy rate of 97 per cent due to the temporary closures, which is similar to other trusts across the country, but above the ideal limit of 85 per cent.

Chairman of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, Professor George Smith, said: “The cause is a staff shortage and until that is sorted out the bed closures cannot be fixed.

“As winter approaches the situation is appreciably more serious than twelve months ago - we are on a downward spiral.”

He added: “NHS England’s chief executive Simon Stevens has already announced that flu this winter might be significantly worse.”

Dr Liz Peretz from campaign group Keep Our NHS Public said the closures were unacceptable.

She added: “We need more money for beds and staff to tackle this chaos erupting in our hospitals.”