FEWER beds, shorter stays for seriously ill patients and one-stop clinics is the way healthcare will be provided in the future at Oxfordshire’s hospitals.

That was the message from Paul Brennan, director of clinical services at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust (ORH), which runs the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Horton hospitals.

Mr Brennan also outlined plans to cut almost 60 beds from its hospitals in Oxford and Banbury as the trust tries to save £52m this year.

It comes as the county battles a bed-blocking problem with around 90 patients fit enough to leave hospital, but with nowhere to go.

The trust said it plans to cut 16 beds from the Horton in Banbury and at least 40 from the John Radcliffe as it tries to save money.

There are currently 434 beds in the medical division spread across all three hospitals.

The Oxford Mail has been told that fixing bedblocking would go a long way to making the savings, but it is not known when the issue will be resolved. Susanna Pressel, who sits on the Oxfordshire Health Overview and Scrutiny committee, said: “While it is true to say the majority of people want to spend as little time as possible in hospital I think this is shocking.

“We have heard people have actually had to wait to be admitted to hospital because of bed shortages and the bed blocking crisis.”

Last week the Oxford Mail revealed the hospital had been forced to open a dedicated 36 bed ward for patients who are currently well enough leave hospital but cannot be discharged because of no social services care in place.

The bed-blocking problem is costing the ORH £3.3m a year at a time when there are plans to cut up to 670 full-time staff posts.

Mr Brennan said: “The proposal to reduce inpatient bed numbers would not be implemented until we have reduced the number of delayed patients (bedblockers) in our hospitals who are clinically well enough to leave and move on to the next stage of their care.”

He said it had been known for some time that beds would be reduced at the hospitals.

The trust claimed more community services, shorter stays for patients who had heart attacks and strokes, and better discharge procedures meant not as many beds were needed in the long term.

He added: “Modern practices mean that patients who would have been admitted to hospital overnight for diagnostic tests and treatments can now be seen as an outpatient, a day case patient, or if they have to be admitted to hospital, their length of stay will be considerably shorter than it might have been just a few years ago.

“There is also a growing focus on providing services closer to people’s homes and we are working with our commissioners to open outreach clinics in community hospitals like Witney and in other general hospitals in neighbouring counties.

“There will of course always be some treatment that can only take place in a hospital setting, but new technology and new treatments are emerging all the time that are less invasive and debilitating.

“No-one should be in hospital longer than they need to be, so reducing length of stay will continue to be a priority for the trust.”