A BLACKBIRD Leys man's dream of cutting his grass without constant pain is on hold yet again as another round of surgery cancellations were announced by hospital bosses yesterday.

It is becoming a familiar pattern for Geoff Lacey, who has had a back operation at the John Radcliffe Hospital postponed at least four times over the last six months.

He even got as far as a hospital bed at the John Radcliffe last month before being told to go home and reschedule.

He said: "I've spent 40 years paying into the system and I feel like I'm being let down."

The 57-year-old has been in pain for three years, struggling to walk more than short distances, but was relieved when he was finally given a date for hip bone graft surgery for his spine in July last year.

Since then, however, he has been faced with constant cancellations, with the latest surgery planned for March 12 delayed when Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) postponed non-urgent adult operations on Monday and Tuesday due to an 'exceptionally busy' weekend.

After returning to normal on Wednesday, the trust announced yesterday further cancellations until Monday.

Mr Lacey is one of hundreds affected by mounting pressure on the trust, which runs the John Radcliffe Hospital, Horton General Hospital, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and The Churchill Hospital.

In January, the trust anticipated around 460 procedures would need to be postponed following heavy strain on services of the Christmas period led to a month long delay of non-urgent procedures.

Over December and January, 16 cardiac surgery operations and eight cancer operations were cancelled on the day of surgery or on the day before surgery because of a lack of ICU beds and a lack of beds on inpatient wards.

Mr Lacey, who works as a maintenance technician for Oxford Health, said: "I'm not criticising the nurses or surgeons at all, they are doing a fantastic job, but something is going wrong with management.

"A cancellation at the end of February was the hardest for me as I was actually in a hospital bed and the surgeon had talked me through the procedure.

"I even had the drawings on me for where they were going to operate. It's awful the constant winding yourself up for the surgery and then it not happening."

According to a report presented to OUH's board by Paul Brennan, Director of Clinical Services, on Wednesday the number of patients now waiting over a year for treatment has risen from 90 in December to 157 in January.

During January, 53 people also waited for over 12 hours to be treated at the trust's two A&E departments.

Sam Foster, chief nurse at the trust, blamed winter pressure and bed-blocking for surgery cancellations.

She said: “We very much regret that we have been in a position where we have had to prioritise the very high numbers of patients who have needed emergency admission to our hospitals in January and again this week. This has meant that we have had to postpone some planned operations.

“We do understand how frustrating this is for patients, and we do our very best to avoid this. I apologise to any patient who has had their planned operation postponed. We are trying to reorganise these as soon as possible."

She added: “Since January we have seen an increase in patients brought into our emergency departments by ambulance, as well as an increase in seriously ill patients and patients requiring admission.

"At any given time, we have 170 patients in our hospital beds who are medically fit to be discharged, but waiting for support in health and social care settings. All of this means that there has been very high pressure on our beds with very little spare capacity.

“We’re working with partners in the local health and social care system to improve the provision of care at home for patients who are ready to leave the hospital.”

For Mr Lacey it is once more back to playing the waiting game.

The grandfather-of-one said: "I just want to get to the point where I can cut the grass without it feeling like I've run a marathon. I'm still working, I'm relatively young, I won't block a bed I just want to have my surgery.

"It seems to me because my surgery isn't classed as an emergency it keeps being put at the bottom of the list. But 'non urgent' doesn't mean I'm not in pain and it isn't affecting my life.”