Most NHS surgeons operate twice in a week

Survey of 6,000 medics finds lack of theatre space is hampering efforts to cut sky-high waiting lists

MOST NHS surgeons in the UK now carry out scheduled operations just twice a week, despite sky-high waiting lists, landmark research shows.

A census of more than 6,000 medics warns that getting access to operating theatres is one of the main challenges surgeons face.

Senior surgeons said the lack of scheduled operating time meant trainees were struggling to get enough time training, slowing down their career progress and meaning they needed to work under closer supervision for longer.

The investigation by the Royal College of Surgeons found that 63 per cent of consultants carry out two or fewer scheduled operating sessions for the NHS per week. In addition, surgeons can carry out private practice.

The college said staff shortages, pressures to work on emergency cases, and a lack of operating theatre space meant surgeons were unable to carry out such surgery for most of their working week.

In the census, 56 per cent of respondents said that access to theatres was a major challenge – rising to 61 per cent of all surgical trainees.

It comes as the NHS waiting list in England stands at 7.6 million people, up from 4.6 million before the pandemic.

Efforts to cut the lists have been repeatedly set back by doctors’ strikes, with more than 1.3 million appointments and operations cancelled.

The findings show 22 per cent of surgeons had one or fewer operating sessions scheduled weekly. Typically a session lasts half a day. A further 41 per cent were assigned two such sessions.

The minority were booked for at least three sessions a week – with just two per cent having elective operations scheduled on a daily basis.

In other countries, such as the US, theatre sessions typically last nine hours and are scheduled daily, with dedicated surgeons who do not have to carry out emergency cases.

The report also found a 25 per cent fall in productivity of public healthcare in the UK in 2021.

Last year, Prof Neil Mortensen, then president of the college, said surgeons were increasingly reporting that they could only “get into surgery [for planned operations] one day every two weeks”.

William Allum, lead report author and Royal College of Surgeons of England council lead for workforce and training, told The Telegraph: “There are insufficient anaesthetic staff, there are not enough theatre nurses, and there are problems with infrastructure. There are just not enough theatres available for the work that’s required.”