OXFORD’S John Radcliffe Hospital has announced new measures to cope with a big rise in patient numbers, with the hospital facing complaints about delayed operations.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust pledged to create 70 extra beds and more operating time, despite being faced with having to cut £44m from its budget.

The trust has issued an apology for distress caused to patients and their families hit by treatment delays, as it moved to end uncertainty about who is running the massive NHS trust, which is responsible for the county’s main hospitals.

The trust this week saw the formal departure of its chief executive, Trevor Campbell Davis, who is to be an NHS representative at the World Economic Forum in Switzer-land, along with that of his deputy, Chris Hurst, the acting-chief executive since June, who has become finance director of Health in Wales.

Mr Campbell Davis’s continued absence since early summer fuelled speculation about his future with the trust. After initially reporting that the chief executive was on leave for personal reasons, the trust finally admitted that he was, in fact, leaving to take up an international healthcare role.

Amid concerns about the trust having to face a bleak financial outlook without a chief executive, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals yesterday announced the appointment of Paul Farenden as its interim chief executive.

Mr Farenden, who has been chief executive of three NHS trusts and has 40 years’ experience in healthcare, will begin work on Monday.

He takes charge with local hospitals bracing themselves for one of the most difficult winters in recent times.

The worst fears of many appeared to have already been realised with a recent significant rise in demand for hospital beds and the renewed spectre of cancelled operations.

Elaine Strachan-Hall, director of nursing and clinical leadership, admitted the trust had been taken by surprise by the recent influx of patients.

She said: “We have experienced an increase in the number of patients who need emergency treatment and this has meant that some less urgent cases have waited longer than usual.

“We understand how stressful it is for patients who find their treatment delayed.”

She added: “Opening extra beds and theatre time has helped but we are continuing to monitor the situation daily, and to respond to individual concerns.”

Dr Peter Skolar, chairman of Oxfordshire County Council’s health scrutiny committee, warned that the extra demand on the JR’s services could only add to financial pressures on the trust.

He said: “They are having to make savings of more than £40m and they are not going to do that by opening more wards and theatres. It is a difficult situation for the JR to be in.”

Dr Skolar and others argued that the trust became a victim of its own success, in that, by bringing down waiting lists, it encouraged GPs to refer more patients to hospital. With the county’s primary care trust running out of money to pay for treatments, the rises in patient numbers left a big hole in the ORH’s financial plans.

Dr Skolar also said continual changes in the leadership of the trust had had an adverse impact in recent months.

He said: “It reached the stage where people were being told the chairman, Dame Fiona Caldicott, would have to take over. But a chairman is not a chief executive.”

Dame Fiona is the principal of Somerville College, Oxford.