90,000 ops cancelled in Wales in just 12 months
Nearly 100,000 operations in Wales were cancelled in just 12 months. Figures from the Welsh Government, through a Freedom of Information request, show that 90,118 nonelective operations in total were postponed between April 2017 and March 2018 among the seven health boards – including nearly half cancelled at short notice.
A total of 38,552 operations were cancelled on the day or the day before the operation was planned across Wales, making them account for 42.8% of cancelled operations that year.
Cardiff & Vale was the third-worstperforming health board, with 18,344 operations cancelled, with 6,397 cancelled on the day or day before.
That’s more than a third of operations cancelled, at nearly 35%, although around a third were cancelled by patients.
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg was the health board with the most cancelled operations, with 18,698 cancelled, and 9,206 cancelled at short notice.
Powys had the least number of cancelled operations, with 975 cancelled between April 2017 and March 2018 – but around a third of them, 302, were cancelled on the day or day before.
The figures for cancelled operations are similar to those in 2016/17, where a total of 88,419 operations were cancelled, with 35,986 cancelled at short notice – a total of 40.7%.
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, with 20,116 cancellations, Cardiff & Vale, with 17,818 cancellations, and Aneurin Bevan, with 16,963, were the worst offenders with the most cancellations between April 2016 and March 2017.
Powys, again, was the best-performing health board, with just 841 operations cancelled.
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “Around half of all procedures are cancelled by patients themselves for a number of reasons. In the vast majority of health boards, the number of postponed procedures is falling.
“Last winter was particularly difficult for all health services which resulted in a number of shortnotice postponements due to bed pressures.
“While the health service needs to do more to prevent non-clinical postponements, we want to create a shared-responsibility NHS where people attend their appointments and let the NHS know as soon as possible if a procedure is no longer needed so their space can be re-allocated to another person who needs treatment.”
Cardiff & Vale University Health Board was contacted for comment.