Hospitals cancel 22 ops a day

HOSPITALS in Greater Manchester are cancelling an average of 22 operations a day – and the number is rising.

Exclusive figures show hospital trusts across Greater Manchester cancelled 8,176 operations at the last minute in 2018/19 – the equivalent of 22.4 a day.

The number of cancellations at the area’s hospital trusts also appears to be on the rise, according to figures revealed following a freedom of information request.

Excluding Manchester University NHS Trust, which did not provide comparable figures for previous years, there were 907 on-the-day cancellations in 2018/19.

That was up 9 per cent from 831 in 2017/18.

That means the number of cancellations is at its highest level since at least 2014/15 – the earliest financial year for which figures are available.

Last-minute cancellations are those that take place on the day the operation is scheduled, including after the patient has arrived at the hospital.

There were 1,801 operations cancelled by Manchester University NHS Trust in 2018/19.

There were 510 cancellations due to a theatre list over-running or a lack of time to operate on all listed patients in a session. There were 455 cancellations due to a lack of beds, while a total of 263 operations were cancelled because staff were unavailable.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust cancelled 2,708 operations in 2018/19, up from 2,697 in 2017/18. Of the cancellations, 703 were urgent operations.