13.02.15
20,000 operations cancelled as trusts struggle to cope with A&E pressures
Nearly 20,000 operations were cancelled at the last minute in the final quarter of 2014 as the NHS struggled to cope with the unprecedented surge in demand that caused A&E chaos.
Figures published by NHS England show that 19,471 planned operations were cancelled for non-clinical reasons between October and December, the highest number in 13 years.
The figure was just below the 20,036 surgeries English hospitals postponed at short notice in 2001-02. But it was a sharp increase on the 15,852 seen in the same quarter in 2013 – a year-on-year rise of 23%.
The data released by NHS England does not specify the non-clinical reasons why the operations were cancelled, but an investigation by NHE revealed how many trusts in England were cancelling operations to redeploy staff to deal with emergency admissions as A&Es around the country struggled to cope with unprecedented pressures this winter.
Barts Health NHS Trust in London cancelled the most operations during the quarter – 482 – followed by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (426). Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (410), Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust (393) and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (385) rounded off the top five.
The data also showed that 1,230 patients (6.3%) did not have their operations rescheduled within 28 days, as required by the NHS constitution – the highest amount for the October to December period since 2003-04.
A further 7,696 operations were cancelled in January, a month during which at least 15 hospital trusts declared major incidents. The highest number came on 5 January, when 772 operations were cancelled.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: “These are the worst figures for well over a decade and that is another sign of how the NHS has gone downhill.
“Far too many are now suffering the distress of having operations cancelled at the last minute. Thousands of patients are not having their operations re-fixed within a month as they are entitled to too.”
NHS England said cancellations were at a low level, despite services facing “unprecedented demands” this winter.
“Cancellations should be avoided wherever possible and the level of cancellations remains low at just 1% of the millions of operations performed in the NHS each year. We have faced unprecedented demands on A&E and other frontline services over the winter, which is the period covered by these latest figures,” a spokesman said.
“Due to urgent and emergency cases, it is sometimes necessary to cancel a planned operation. When an operation is cancelled, hospitals should rearrange it as quickly as possible.”
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