Minister blames winter storm for surge in NHS operation cancellations

HEALTH: Hospitals in Tayside and Fife will take time to recover – Robison

The Health Secretary has blamed the beast from the east for a surge in the number of cancelled operations.

In Tayside and Fife, six procedures a day were called off for non-clinical reasons in March, new figures show.

There were 1,201 cancelled operations across the country in a month that saw Scotland gripped for several days by the extreme weather event.

That is an increase of almost 70% from the previous month, but down on the three-year high recorded in January.

Opposition parties said the scale of cancellations shows a health service “unable to cope”. Shona Robison, who has faced repeated calls to resign, said the cold snap was behind many of the cancellations.

“Severe weather and warnings not to travel did mean many staff could not get to hospital and this level of disruption takes hospitals time to recover from,” the Dundee East MSP said.

“Despite that, on average 820 operations a day took place and feedback from boards has shown that the clear majority of cancellations for capacity or nonclinical reasons in March was due to the adverse weather.”

Miles Briggs, the Tory MSP, said the official data is part of a “growing catalogue of failure of the SNP and the health secretary, Shona Robison”.

In hospitals in Courier Country, 165 operations were cancelled for capacity issues and other non-clinical issues.

In Tayside, 74 operations were dropped, the highest since April last year, compared with 91 in Fife, the second biggest number since the records began.

Last year, more than a quarter (27.8%) of cancelled operations in Tayside were a result of capacity problems, which has led to Tory MSPs in Perthshire to call for more support for the financially stricken health board. The national average is 25.1%. Sixty of the cancellations in Fife were due to the weather, says the Scottish Government.

Figures on bed-blocking also made uncomfortable reading for the health secretary, with the cost of the capacity scourge over the last three years in Tayside and Fife alone estimated at £55 million.

Known as delayed discharge, it occurs when a patient has to stay in the hospital despite there being no medical reason for them to be there.

Scottish Labour has estimated the cost of bed-blocking in Scotland at £380m across Scotland in the three years to March.

“That is money that could have been reinvested in our health service to improve patient care,” he said.

Tory MSP Miles Briggs, right, says Scottish Health Secretary Shona Robison, left, and the SNP are failing.