Over 900 patients have had scheduled surgery cancelled so far this year in the West of England for non-medical reasons, it has been reported.
Almost half of those (436) were due to go in for surgery at two Gloucestershire hospitals, with The Great Western hospital in Swindon reporting the next highest number of 141 cancelled operations.
Gloucestershire hospitals NHS Trust saw cancellations as a result of intense pressure from a high level of demand on its services, which it put down to an increase in frail and elderly patients being admitted to hospitals and a shortage of beds.
A statement from the trust, which released the statistics following a Freedom of Information request, said the number of operations called off on the day brought the number down to 43 cancelled operations between 4th and 14th January. It added that the data was “complex” and “should be considered in that context.”
Across the beginning two weeks of this year, 219 operations were cancelled out of a total 1,279 in Gloucester, and 217 were cancelled in Cheltenham, out of a total 1,600.
David Drew, a Labour councillor who sits on Gloucestershire’s health scrutiny committee, said an investigation had been carried out into the findings, but he warned “there is a long way to go before we can say that the underlying difficulties have gone away.”
In Swindon, there had been an “increased demand and growing pressure” on services at Great Western hospital, a spokesman said, and this was given as the reason for the cancellation of non-urgent operations. The hospital has since apologised.
The spokesman added: “Patient safety and quality of care is our absolute priority and therefore on occasions when we are extremely busy we do have to make difficult decisions and prioritise patients needing urgent care, such as cancer patients.”