Between April and July this year, 17,024 elective surgeries were cancelled at the last minute in England.
Guidance to providers states that when a patient’s operation is cancelled by the hospital for non-clinical reasons, a “binding date within a maximum of the next 28 days” should be offered, or the procedure should be funded at the time and hospital of the patient’s choice.
Across all NHS England hospitals, this standard was violated 3,954 times – 23.2 percent of all cases.
Express.co.uk’s analysis of the previous data release – relating to the period between January and March – suggested three trusts fell short for every single patient. This was subsequently revealed to be erroneous recording on their part.
Over the past three months, one hospital has stood out for violating the NHS Constitution far more frequently than any other.
Elective operations are surgeries scheduled in advance which do not involve a medical emergency – ranging from kidney donations and mastectomies to facelifts and wart removals.
Although many of these procedures are less urgent, they are not necessarily optional, and patients could face devastating consequences if left untreated.
In England, during the first three months of the year, just over a quarter (25.4 percent) of all last-minute cancelled operations were not rescheduled in good time – a greater proportion than during any other three-month period since 2001, excluding when data collection was paused in 2020 due to the pandemic.
At North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, however, this figure rises to 82 percent.
A spokesperson for the healthcare provider said, “We recognize the importance of rescheduling any postponed operations as quickly as possible. We are sorry that we have not rescheduled people as quickly as they should have been and we have made changes to improve.”
NHS England is undoubtedly under enormous pressure, with persistent staff shortages, ongoing junior doctor strikes, and an overcrowded social care sector making even routine functioning a challenge.
But North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust’s poor performance contrasts sharply with that of the 16 providers that met the standard every single time.
Furthermore, at an NHS commissioning region level, the North West in which North Cumbria falls is one of the best in the country.
Further disruption is expected in Cumbria this weekend, as junior doctors walk out between Friday August 11 and Tuesday August 15.
In a statement published on North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust’s website on Tuesday, medical director Dr Adrian Clements warned they would be “prioritizing emergency and urgent care services”.
He added, “During the strike period the availability of our senior medical staff will be stretched and the availability of staff that can see you will be dramatically reduced. For this particular round of strike action we expect the impact to be greater because staff have already booked annual leave in line with the school holidays.”