‘Scrap non urgent ops in winter’

THE NHS should scrap all nonemergency surgery for two months over winter to prevent another crisis, according to senior medics.

Procedures such as hip replacements and cataract surgery should not be planned during January and February to free up beds and avoid cancellations, The Society For Acute Medicine said yesterday.

NHS officials ordered hospitals to cancel tens of thousands of operations and outpatient appointments this winter and re-open ‘mothballed’ wards.

Dr Nick Scriven, president of the society which represents hospital doctors and nurses in acute medicine, said the NHS had ‘just coped’ but that was based on the goodwill of staff.

‘People in power have to sit up and take notice that this isn’t going to get better and unless something radical is done it is going to get worse,’ he said.

The ban should not apply to urgent cases and cancer care, he added. Three times as many patients were hospitalised this year following the worst flu season in seven years.