Last minute operation cancellations up at Royal Oldham trust

The Northern Care Alliance Trust, which manages the Royal Oldham Hospital as well as some other hospitals including Fairfield General and Salford Royal, cancelled more elective operations at the last minute in the three months to December than across the same time period the year before, new figures show.

Additionally, more patients were forced to wait more than 28 days to be treated following their operation being cancelled in the three months to December when compared with the previous quarter.

NHS England suspended collecting data on cancelled operations from April 2020 to September 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but since restarting, the number of cancelled operations across England has risen by 10 per cent in the last year.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England said no surgeon wants to cancel operations, but high demand and the lack of social care leading to a delay in discharging patients has made this impossible.

Earlier this month, NHS England announced 37 new surgical hubs, 10 expanded existing hubs and 81 new theatres dedicated to elective care.

NHS England figures show 452 elective operations were cancelled at the last minute in the three months to December at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust – down from 518 the previous quarter.

It meant a total of 1,827 operations were cancelled on the day the patient arrived at hospital after they arrived, or on the day of the operation itself in 2022.

Nationally, cancelled operations rose by nine per cent in the three months to December from the previous quarter and 10 per cent on the same time period in 2021.

The proportion of cancelled operations has remained consistent at around one per cent of the total number of operations planned since before the pandemic.

Royal Oldham Hospital

Hospital bosses respond

Jude Adams, chief delivery officer for the Northern Care Alliance, said: “We would like to apologise to those patients who have unfortunately had their surgery cancelled at the last minute; our staff are working incredibly hard to ensure that as many scheduled operations go ahead as is safe to do so.

“Like other NHS Trusts around the country, our services are under great pressure, but it is encouraging to see that the most recent figures published for the NCA show the number of operations cancelled at short notice has fallen over recent months.”

Problems discharging patients

Commenting on the national figures, Tim Mitchell, vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: “No surgeon wants to be in the position of telling a patient their surgery has to be cancelled but the very high demand we have seen in emergency departments since the summer, and problems discharging patients who are ready to leave hospital when there is a lack of social care, mean this is too often what has to happen.

“Gaps in the workforce also play a huge part. Often there will be a surgeon available to operate, but no theatre nurses or anaesthetists.”

More patients of cancelled operations across England also had to wait longer to be treated again.

Some 4,590 patients were forced to wait more than 28 days to be treated following their operation being cancelled in the three months to December – up from 4,150 the previous quarter.

Of these, 87 were at the Northern Care Alliance Trust – up from 55 the previous quarter.

This was the highest number since data collection was resumed in the final quarter of 2021.

On the new hubs being created, Mr Mitchell added: "We would like to see surgical hubs established in every area of the country with a particular focus on underserved areas and struggling to bring down waiting times.

"All of this will also mean nothing in the long term unless we have a resilient workforce to staff hubs. The Government’s much-anticipated workforce plan cannot come soon enough."

Cutting waiting lists 'top priority'

The Department for Health and Social care said bringing down waiting lists and providing the highest quality care is a "top priority", and that the rise in cancellations was driven by the increase in booked operations.

A spokesperson added: "The NHS has already made strong progress in tackling the Covid backlogs, virtually eliminating waits of over two years for treatment – the first target in the Elective Recovery Plan – and all efforts are being made to deliver the next ambition to eliminate waits of 18 months or more by April.”