THE “biggest challenge” facing county hospitals is pressure on the two accident and emergency centres in Oxford and Banbury, Sir Jonathan Michael said yesterday.

He spoke as provisional figures show the Oxford University Hospitals Trust missed a key emergency waiting target for the second quarter of the 2014-15 financial year.

At least 95 per cent of patients must be discharged, admitted or transferred within four hours of arrival at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital or Banbury’s Horton Hospital.

But this was an estimated 94.31 per cent in the second quarter, July to September, which has not yet been confirmed due to a software update to recording systems.

It means the trust is at 93 per cent for the first six months of this financial year at the departments, which see more than 2,000 total patients a week. Sir Jonathan said: “The biggest challenge for the coming months will be the performance for our emergency departments”.

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And he warned “bed blocking”, where a patient is well enough to leave hospital but cannot because community support is not available, was also an issue.

Known as “delayed transfers of care,” the trust’s target is that only 3.5 per cent of occupied beds are hit by “bed blocking”

But from April to September, 9.6 per cent of beds were blocked. More were delayed in October than in any month this year, the trust said, but figures have not yet been released.

Sir Jonathan said: “We are seeing increasing evidence of pressure across the Oxfordshire system with increasing numbers of delayed transfers of care which is having an impact.”

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