DOZENS of operations have been cancelled and patients face delays in accident and emergency as a winter beds crisis hits York District Hospital.

Latest figures show only six beds available for new patients on the hospital's admissions ward.

More than 70 routine operations have been cancelled and more than 80 patients are being housed on inappropriate wards as staff try to meet heavy seasonal demand.

The news came on the day the first NHS patients went abroad for treatment in a French hospital in a bid to cut down British waiting lists.

Nine patients were being admitted to La Louviere hospital where four will have long-awaited cataract operations and five will undergo joint replacements, a Department of Health spokeswoman said.

In York, managers disclosed that last week the hospital was on "red alert" status with a 13-bed deficit on the wards.

Dr Robert McEwan, directorate manager for surgical services, said: "The hospital has been full with as many patients as we can manage, although we do have about six beds available today.

"We have been running to 50 to 60 emergency admissions a day for the last two weeks.

"We have got a lot of elderly sick people in hospital who need to be in hospital and need to stay longer than they would at other times of the year."

He said 86 patients were this week being cared for in the wrong type of wards, down from 88 last week.

The hospital is cancelling routine elective operations, like hernias, for lack of post-operative care beds. In total, 16 operations were cancelled this week and 56 last week.

He also said waits in the accident and emergency unit have been heightened.

The hospital was prepared for the winter, but very cold weather in the first week of the new year had contributed to increased pressure.

He said "bottle-necks" in the system created increased pressures on staff and forced them to transform a day room into a ward with four beds.

He added: "We are not out of the woods yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. The beginnings of the week are manic for staff after the weekend admissions, but it is starting to settle down towards the end of the week. But we are in a situation of more admissions than discharges.

"All of the staff are coping admirably."

The patients travelling abroad for NHS treatment come from three test-bed sites in East Kent, West Sussex and Portsmouth/Isle of Wight which were earmarked last year as the first areas to send patients abroad for treatment. Patients will be travelling from the sites on a weekly basis with the Government hoping to send up to 300 in the first three months, the Department of Health spokeswoman said.

Updated: 11:51 Friday, January 18, 2002