Emergency patients in large parts of Oxfordshire are being denied treatment in Oxford’s John Radcliffe, a GP has claimed.

Burford GP Dr Oliver Sharpley said GPs in west and north Oxfordshire have been bombarded with emails urging them to divert emergency cases to Banbury’s Horton Hospital.

He claimed GPs now continually faced telling patients that no place could be secured for them at Oxford’s busy main hospital, because of lack of capacity.

Dr Sharpley said: “Our patients are unaware of what is going on until they face an emergency. Then in their moment of crisis families are horrified to discover that they are denied access to the John Radcliffe.”

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals (ORH) insisted last night that no local hospitals had closed their doors and that the system operated to ensure emergency patients could be seen swiftly.

One recent email sent to surgeries asks doctors to make emergency referrals to the Horton Hospital “until further notice” to reduce the possibility of patients being delayed or having to be transferred later in the day. Others refer to “very little capacity” for both adults and children.

Dr Sharpley said: “Practioners in the west and north of Oxfordshire have received 153 of these emails in the last 69 weeks. Nearly one in three of the population are being denied the right of emergency admission to the John Radcliffe for nearly three out of five week days.”

An ORH spokesman said: “When the John Radcliffe is busy, patients north of Oxford are asked to refer to the Horton, when the Horton is busy, patients may be referred to Oxford. This system is in operation all the time.”