THE county’s hospital authority had England’s highest number of “bed- blocked” patients from January 2 to 4, new figures show.

An average of 163 patients were in a bed each day when they were well enough to leave but could not as social care support was not available.

That was up from 119 from January 3 to 5 last year, an increase of 33 per cent.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust – one of England’s biggest teaching trusts – has one of the most serious bed-blocking problems in England.

Since June alone, a snapshot survey on the last Thursday of the month found it had the most bed-blocked patients.

This was 107 in November.

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The trust runs Oxford’s John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals, the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Banbury’s Horton General Hospital.

A statement on behalf of the trust was yesterday released by Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which makes NHS budget decisions.

It said: “The increase in numbers since November 2014 is disappointing but to be expected when more people become ill at this time of year with flu and colds, especially the elderly.

“This has been reflected in a considerable rise in activity seen at local emergency departments as well as other out-of-hours services over the past few weeks, which is in line with national trends.”

An OCCG plan to tackle the issue states that early hospital assessments of elderly and frail patients is vital.

The hospital trust is also sending care workers into their homes so they can free up hospital beds.

The statement said: “Taking a whole system look at the problem is the only way in which we will bring about a sustainable improvement.

“We believe that our partnership approach and resources from the Government to cope with winter pressures will help to tackle the delays.”

Rachel Coney, chief executive of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, the official health and social care watchdog, said: “I think that patients are very frustrated by the fact that Oxfordshire is languishing behind the rest of the country for bed-blocking.

“What we need right now is for providers across the county to work together to tackle this problem and get it resolved.”

The Oxford Mail reported yesterday that the trust had England’s highest number of cancelled operations from November 3 to January 4, a total of 792.

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