Cancelled operations above national average

Almost nine per cent of operations in NHS Lanarkshire were cancelled last year – above the national average.

Figures from Public Health Scotland showed 1117 of the 12,881 planned NHS Lanarkshire operations between January to November last year were cancelled – that’s 8.6 per cent.

Reasons for cancellations included “at the patient’s request”, “clinical reasons” and “non-clinical reasons”.

The most recent figures from November 2021 show 11.2 percent of planned operations had been cancelled, including 64 operations cancelled by the patient; 54 due to clinical reasons; 19 operations not due to clinical reasons; and three others.

The national average for last year was 7.7 per cent, with a total of 175,820 planned operations and 13,711 cancellations.

Judith Park, NHS Lanarkshire director of acute services, told the Advertiser: “We took the decision to temporarily postpone the majority of nonurgent elective procedures last year to free up staff and beds for urgent care.

“The decision was taken as a result of the unprecedented and sustained pressures across the three acute sites.

“A number of clinically urgent and priority procedures were not affected.

“The sustained pressure continues across our three acute hospitals and is showing no signs of easing.

“We are facing relentless pressures, bed shortages and staff shortages due to sickness, stress and self-isolation and our hospital sites are all at maximum capacity.

“We are working through a number of actions to try to reduce pressure on our sites but the safety of our patients and staff is our top priority.

“And we are not yet in a position to be able to bring patients into our hospitals for planned surgery procedures.”