Cancelled planned operations
Month ending 30 April 2023

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides a monthly update on the number of operations in NHSScotland that were cancelled the day before or on the day of treatment. Note that due to technical issues, NHS Lothian have been unable to provide data from November 2022 to March 2023. However, they have recommenced from April 2023 onwards. This should be taken into consideration when interpreting the statistics shown.

Please note, both NHS Fife and NHS Highland have opened new National Treatment Centres (NTCs), and data for these are included in the figures below and in our publication tables.

Main points

• During April 2023 there were 19,840 operations planned to take place across NHSScotland. This represents a decrease of 7.1% compared to the 21,350 planned for March 2023 (excl. NHS Lothian) but is 7.9% higher than the number planned a year previously in April 2022 (18,392).
• The trend for the monthly number of planned operations has generally been on the rise since May 2020. However, activity and the total number of cancellations have decreased in the current month, with a noticeable decrease in the number of cancellations for non-clinical/capacity reasons. Activity remains lower than pre-pandemic levels and when comparing to April 2019 (27,204), there were 27.1% fewer operations planned during the latest month.
• During April 2023, 8.7% of all planned operations were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was due to be treated, for NHSScotland. This has increased slightly from 8.2% reported during the previous month (excl. NHS Lothian) but remains comparable to pre-pandemic levels (8.5% in April 2019). Across NHS Boards, this percentage ranged from 5.4% to 11%.
• Of all cancelled planned operations during April 2023, for NHSScotland, 606 (3.1%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 655 (3.3%) were cancelled by the patient, 387 (2%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 85 (0.4%) were cancelled due to other reasons.

Total planned operations and percentage of cancelled planned operations, by reason, up to April 2023.

Close

Total planned operations and percentage of cancelled planned operations, by reason, up to April 2023

Background

These statistics are released monthly. Data for this publication are submitted from NHS board theatre systems. Further information on the reasons for cancellation can be found on the Cancelled Planned Operations section of our website.

These statistics continue to be affected by COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 4 July 2023.

NHS Performs

A selection of information from this publication is included in NHS Performs. NHS Performs is a website that brings together a range of information on how hospitals and NHS Boards within NHSScotland are performing.