HUNDREDS of operations have been cancelled at Oxfordshire’s hospitals because of a severe bed shortage.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust (ORH) said it was running at full capacity as it tackles a surge in the number of emergency admissions and a bed blocking crisis.

The trust yesterday admitted the “very severe problems” were among the worst in the country.

Non-emergency operations were cancelled on Thursday and yesterday.

The trust said it had been forced to cancel operations because of delays in discharging patients who were well enough to go home.

Many patients were also waiting to be taken to community hospitals or nursing homes.

Patient Steve Pearce, from Wantage, claimed he was told by doctors he should have been discharged on New Year’s Eve.

But, almost a week later, Mr Pearce, who was being treated for a broken back, was still waiting for care arrangements to be made so he could return home.

He said: “It seems to have been a huge breakdown in communication.

“As if I wanted to spend New Year in hospital. I have got better things to do.”

Meanwhile, the hospital said it was forced to open up 59 extra beds as more people needed treatment for winter-related illnesses.

Paul Brennan, ORH’s director of clinical services, said: “The first week of January is usually a busy week for our hospitals.

“But this week has been exceptionally difficult because we have large numbers of emergency patients coming in and we have been struggling to find beds for them.

“Unfortunately, we have been experiencing very severe problems with discharging patients who are well enough to go home or on to the next stage in their care.

“Nobody wants to be in hospital longer than they have to when their needs could be better met elsewhere.”

Extra agency staff have been drafted into the hospital to help cope.

The trust revealed 25 patients are considered clinically fit to go home, but have not yet been properly assessed while 52 patients in the hospital are classified as ‘delayed discharge’, meaning they were well enough to be discharged, but remain in a bed – costing the NHS up to £500 per night.

The hospital said it did not know how many operations had been cancelled, but the JR and Churchill in Oxford and the Horton in Banbury were affected.

Mr Brennan said: “We will be contacting patients to rearrange surgery as soon as possible.”

“ In October, Oxfordshire County Council was fined £10,000 by Royal Berkshire Hospitals Trust for not doing enough to take on patients.

Council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said delayed transfers were a result of a range of factors involving different organisations and circumstances, and pointed to a rise in demand for social care nationally.

He added: “This council, like any other, has to manage the resources that it has available to prioritise the most urgent and needy cases.

“It is widely acknowledged that the number of delayed transfers of care in any given area is usually higher in the winter compared to other times of the year.”