FOI Request
- Disclosure ID
- FOI/02688
- Request Date
- September 3, 2018
- Subject
- Cancelled Operations
- Description
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the total number of operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons, broken down by the cause of the cancellation, for example due to lack of beds, operating theatre capacity, staffing issues, and equipment failures.
Please provide this information for each of the past five financial years (i.e. years running from April to March – 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18).
In the total number of operations, broken down by cancellation reason, please include:
- Elective operations cancelled at the last minute. For the purposes of this request, last minute means on the day the patient was due to arrive, after the patient has arrived in hospital or on the day of the operation or surgery.
- Cancelled urgent operations.
If the data is collected by the trust, please also provide a separate total for each year for all operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons, regardless of how soon before the scheduled operation time the cancellation occurred.
- Response
Elective operations cancelled on day of operation for non-clinical reasons. Financial Year Cancellation Reason Number of cancelled ops 2013/14 Surgeon or Anaesthetist unavailable 1 Anaesthetist unavailable 9 Emergencies took priority 81 Equipment failure/unavailable 46 Hospital reason 126 ICU/HDU beds unavailable 51 List Overrun 128 Surgeon unavailable 11 Theatre staff unavailable 9 Ward beds unavailable 192 Total 654 2014/15 Surgeon or Anaesthetist unavailable 8 Anaesthetist unavailable 10 Emergencies took priority 74 Equipment failure/unavailable 54 Hospital reason 82 ICU/HDU beds unavailable 63 List Overrun 107 Surgeon unavailable 23 Theatre staff unavailable 8 Ward beds unavailable 71 Total 500 2015/16 Surgeon or Anaesthetist unavailable 4 Anaesthetist unavailable 3 Emergencies took priority 68 Equipment failure/unavailable 32 Hospital reason 41 ICU/HDU beds unavailable 41 List Overrun 148 Surgeon unavailable 62 Theatre staff unavailable 24 Ward beds unavailable 65 Was Not Brought 4 Total 492 2016/17 Surgeon or Anaesthetist unavailable 6 Anaesthetist unavailable 15 Emergencies took priority 62 Equipment failure/unavailable 45 Hospital reason 19 ICU/HDU beds unavailable 38 List Overrun 145 Surgeon unavailable 42 Theatre staff unavailable 17 Ward beds unavailable 196 Was Not Brought 3 Total 588 2017/18 Surgeon or Anaesthetist unavailable 5 Anaesthetist unavailable 19 Emergencies took priority 101 Equipment failure/unavailable 97 Hospital reason 53 ICU/HDU beds unavailable 80 List Overrun 175 Surgeon unavailable 38 Theatre staff unavailable 22 Ward beds unavailable 570 Was Not Brought 1 Total 1161 Total 3395 We do not identify “urgent” operations in the data
Please follow the link below for further information.
The information you have requested is available from NHS England, please see link below. Please note, the regional data is on the first tab, the trust data is on the second tab.