LOOKING after Oxfordshire’s older people is an “absolute and immediate priority” according to the county’s health report published today.

Dr Jonathan McWilliam, Oxfordshire’s public health director, said county health bosses need to find new approaches to caring for older people, with the number of people aged 85 and over set to soar over the next 30 years.

He also warns solutions must be found to tackle poorer health and life chances for young people, particularly in parts of Oxford and Banbury.

Last year Dr McWilliam highlighted alcohol as a major health concern for Oxfordshire. According to the report, levels of drinking are still rising in Oxfordshire and services are spending more time dealing with the impact, such as ill health, accidents and crime.

Oxfordshire is one of the areas trialling GP commissioning ahead of NHS reforms which will see primary care trusts, which currently commission health care, dismantled.

Dr McWilliam, who works on behalf of NHS Oxfordshire and the county council, said: “Good progress is being made overall to tackle the main threats to public health in this county but serious and long-standing challenges remain.

“GP commissioners need to join with local authorities in the new health and wellbeing board to get to grips with the key issues for Oxfordshire right away.”

Outpatient appointments at county hospitals are getting back to normal after the introduction of a new IT system. But patients can still expect some delays when phoning to book appointments.

Hospital chiefs implemented the new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system at the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Horton hospitals at the weekend, leading to hours of delays.

But Paul Brennan, clinical services director at the OUH, the trust which runs Oxfordshire’s main hospitals, said staff had since volunteered to work extra hours to help minimise the effect on patients.

He said: “We are experiencing some delays in the speed with which we are able to answer calls to our Patient Contact Centre. We are obviously doing all we can to minimise potential impact on patients, so we have taken the decision to continue to suspend parking charges as a precaution should there be issues which cause patients to wait longer than usual.”