THOUSANDS of operations at hospitals across Oxfordshire were cancelled last year during the two national lockdowns because of the pandemic. Oxfordshire braced for the effects of the outbreak as an unprecedented number of people who had contracted the virus flooded hospitals. Covid-19 patients filled the beds at the county’s four major hospitals governed by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. A Freedom of Information request to the trust submitted by the Oxford Mail has now revealed that 5,655 elective and emergency procedures were pushed back between March 21 and July 4, and October 31 and December 2 at the John Radcliffe, the Churchill, the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and the Horton General hospitals.