Ops canned amidst NHS struggles

Latest figures have revealed that NHS Lanarkshire cancelled over 50 operations because hospitals couldn’t cope.

The statistics show 52 operations were cancelled due to non-clinical reasons, which include, not having enough staff or unclean equipment in May.

That equates to 21 per cent of the 274 scheduled elective cancellations in the health board’s theatre system.

That was a slight drop from April when 54 were cancelled.

The year-on-year figure from May 2018 also fell from 57.

Central Scotland Labour MSP Monica Lennon has hit out at the Scottish Government saying that the NHS is simply not getting enough resources and support.

However, that statistics also highlight that more operations were cancelled by patients with 80 in May leading to the health board urging patients to give ample notice.

But Ms Lennon said:“NHS staff working in our hospitals at Hairmyres, Wishaw and Monklands are doing incredible work but too often their teams are understaffed. It’s not fair on the workforce and it’s bad for patients who are having operations cancelled on the day.

“We have seen a staffing crisis develop in our health service, with huge unfilled gaps for consultants, nurses and midwives.

“People are being let down by the Scottish Government’s failure to put the right NHS workforce planning in place.

“We simply must have enough staff and resources within our NHS and the SNP are being too complacent.”

Meanwhile, Tory MSP Graham Simpson said:“It is shocking to see that over 50 operations were cancelled in May 2019 across Lanarkshire due to non-clinical reasons.

“We should not see cancelled operation in Scotland’s NHS because there are not having enough staff or unclean equipment.”

SNP MSP Linda Fabiani said:“The reality is that the vast majority of operations took place as planned with only two per cent rearranged for non-clinical reasons. NHS Lanarkshire tell me that it’s actually cancellations by patients that cause the highest number of non-operations.

“We should be supporting our hard-working health professionals and helping them to get the message out that‘no-shows’and late patient cancellations disadvantage all of us.”

The health board apologised to patients whose operations had to be cancelled but said they are only done so in the“interests of patient safety”and they were rearranged“as soon as possible”to ensure it takes place within the waiting time guarantee.

Judith Park, NHS Lanarkshire deputy director of acute services, said:“NHS Lanarkshire undertook 2479 procedures over the course of May 2019, so the vast majority took place as planned with around two per cent requiring to be rearranged for non-clinical reasons.

“Cancellations by patients accounts for the highest number of cancelled operations and patients can help ensure our services run as efficiently as possible by giving us ample notice when cancelling their procedure. This will allow us to use the slot for another patient.”