A NEW Oxfordshire health chief has said she is confident the county’s hospitals will not be forced into cancelling operations en masse like last year.

The winter of 2017/18 saw hundreds of operations cancelled between December and March as cold weather pressures saw Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) struggle to cope with the number of patients requiring treatment.

The trust was forced to cancel all non-urgent operations at the John Radcliffe Hospital for a whole week in March with former medical director at OUH, Dr Tony Berendt, admitting the trust was ‘constantly running close to maximum’, with bed blocking and an increase in seriously ill patients blamed.

However, new medical director, professor Meghana Pandit, who took up the role at the beginning of January, said this week that better planning had seen bed blocking reduced and hospital stays shorten, meaning the trust was in a ‘much improved’ situation this year.

Oxford Mail:

She said: “If your patient flow is better and your bed occupancy rates are not so high then you can plan surgeries and get patients in and that’s what we’re seeing.

“Getting things in place since October has enabled the organisations to achieve not needing to cancel operations on a large scale in January.”

Prof Pandit said the winter plan, which for the first time has seen the county’s health and care sector work together to help reduce hospital admissions and improve patient flow, had played a crucial part in helping the trust cope with winter pressures.

And while we are yet to experience any real inclement weather this winter, Prof Pandit said she was confident the system could cope.

She said: “We have every intention to continue to provide elective care and not cancel surgeries unless it is for reasons not linked to bed pressures (such as if a patient is unfit for surgery).

“We do not want to be in the position we were in last year.”

Last year the trust cancelled a total of 273 operations between January and March - a 30 per cent increase on the period the year before.

And while bed blocking as also been reduce in the county, the CQC has said more must be done to tackle the issue with Oxfordshire still one of the worst performing regions in the country.