NHS forced to cancel 130 operations every week

●Anger as lack of capacity in Scotland results in delay of planned procedures

An average of 19 operations are being cancelled each day in Scotland’s hospitals because of a lack of staff or space, official figures reveal.

Bed-blocking is also clogging up space across Scotland’s NHS, with more than 1,000 patients stuck in hospitals when they were ready to go home in May.

Labour has stepped up calls for health secretary Shona Robison to be sacked in light of the figures which have been branded “totally unacceptable”.

The cabinet secretary has insisted that the NHS “works hard” to keep cancellations to a minimum and that the overall postponement rate is at an all-time low.

A total of 512 operations were scrapped in May due to capacity issues, up from 490 the previous month. The worst month this year was January when 704 operations were cancelled.

A total of 141,638 operations were carried out in the first five months of this year, health service figures yesterday showed. But 2,912 planned operations were cancelled between January and May due to capacity reasons, an average of 19.2 per day.

Labour’s health spokesman Anas

Sarwar said: “These official figures once again reveal the extent of the SNP’S mismanagement of our NHS.

“An average of nearly 20 operations are being cancelled every day so far this year – that’s almost 3,000 patients since January.

“This is simply unacceptable. The SNP has left our NHS staff under-valued and underresourced, while patients are facing delay after delay.

“It is clear that SNP health secretary Shona Robison is now totally out of her depth she created this crisis and she can’t be the one to fix it.

“Nicola Sturgeon must reshuffle her Cabinet and get back to the day job of fixing the mess the SNP has made of our NHS.”

The figures reveal that 4,804 operations were also cancelled in the five months to May by the hospital due to concerns about the health of the patient involved, while 4,979 were cancelled by the patients themselves.

A further 405 procedures were postponed for unspecified reasons, the figures show.

Ms Robison said the 29,997 procedures carried out in May show that there were an average of almost 1,000 operations per day carried out in Scotland’s hospitals.

The total of 13,100 axed operations – for all reasons – represents the lowest ever rate of overall cancellations since the statistics were created, she added. The cancellations due to a lack of hospital staff or space was just 1.7 per cent, she said.

“Boards work hard to keep cancellations to a minimum, and we’ll continue working with them so we see sustained improvement,” she added.

“I am confident that the recently announced extra £9 million to improve patient flow through hospitals this year will help us continue to reduce delays.”

The figures show the picture is improving in Scotland’s emergency departments.

There were 150,442 patients seen at Accident and Emergency (A&E) services in Scotland throughout May.

Of these, 94 per cent were seen within four hours, which is just short of the national target of 95 per cent.

But just over 700 patients – about 22 a day – were forced to wait more than eight hours, while 96 spent more than 12 hours in an A&E department. Fewer than a quarter of attendances (23.7 per cent) led to an admission to hospital.

The most recent weekly A&E figurescoveringthesevendays up to 25 June found that 94.5 per cent of patients were being seen within the four-hour target, but 83 people were forced to wait more than eight hours.

Ms Robison has previously pledged to “eradicate delayed discharge”, also known as bedblocking.

But the latest figures show that this still remains an issue in the NHS. In May, 39,651 days were spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed. This is equivalent to an average of 1,279 beds occupied per day in May 2017. In April, the daily average was 1,364.

Each day, around 1,000 operations are carried out in Scottish hospitals. The vast majority – alongside tens of thousands of consultations – are a success and lead to a positive outcome for patients.

We should take pride in this and in the dedication and skill of NHS staff who make this possible.

However, the performance of the NHS is increasingly under scrutiny. And this is set to intensify.

Today, we report that an average of 19 planned operations every day are being cancelled as a result of lack of staff or capacity. That is a total of 2,912 since the start of the year.

Separately, another report – from a Freedom of Information request by the Scottish Conservatives – has criticised the fabric of our NHS buildings. It estimates that a £1 billion investment is required.

In such a massive organisation as the NHS there are always going to be maintenance issues and a small number of cancelled operations must be regarded as inevitable.

But questions are only going to increase now that a second independence referendum has been parked by the SNP government.

A return to a domestic policy agenda is welcome, but with that will come a tsunami of questions from Labour, Conservative, Libdems and others on key policy areas such as health and education.

Having put indyref2 into a temporary slumber, all the Opposition firepower will be directed towards the SNP’S record in government. And rightly so.

Take today as an example. On the issue of cancelled operations Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “It is clear that SNP health secretary Shona Robison is now totally out of her depth – she created this crisis...”

Well no. Health services across the world are struggling to cope with an ageing population, a plethora of new and expensive drugs, and staff shortages. Ms Robison cannot be said to have “created this crisis”.

The question is to what extent the SNP has been asleep on the job, so focused on indyref2 that energy, direction and accountability has been lacking.

Similar questions will be fired daily on education performance.

It is important that the Scottish Government defends our public services, acknowledges shortcomings and then puts in place measure to change outcomes.

Meaningless soundbites from all sides will do nothing but sink morale.