Cancelled planned operations
Month Ending 30 June 2024

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. Following a review of data processes, issues with data received from NHS Orkney have been identified which means statistics for this Board must be treated with caution and may be subject to future revision. PHS are collaborating with NHS Orkney to resolve this issue.

Main points

• During June 2024, there were 23,274 operations planned to take place across NHSScotland. This is 4.8% less than the number planned a year previously in June 2023 (24,435). However, the number of planned operations has been steadily increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic impacted service provision. In the 12 months from July 2023 to June 2024, there was a 6.3% increase in the number of planned operations compared to the previous 12 months. However, this remains 15% less than those planned to take place in the 12 months from March 2019 to February 2020, just prior to when the pandemic began to severely impact service provision.
• During the latest month, 8% (1,859) of planned operations were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was due to be treated in NHSScotland. This is a lower rate than both the 9.1% (2,216) reported during June 2023 and that reported in June 2019 (8.7%, 2,348). Across NHS Boards, the percentage of cancelled planned operations ranged from 5.8% to 11.7%.
• Of all planned operations during June 2024 in NHSScotland, 723 (3.1%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 623 (2.7%) were cancelled by the patient, 455 (2%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 58 (0.2%) were cancelled due to other reasons.

A trend chart showing NHS Scotland level data for total planned operations and percentage of cancelled planned operations, by reason, from January 2020 up to June 2024.

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NHS Scotland total planned operations and percentage of cancelled planned operations by reason to June 2024.

Please note that fluctuation in the trend in the monthly number of planned operations will be caused partly by variation in the number of working days per month i.e. weekdays excluding public holidays, as theatre capacity tends to be lower at weekends and on public holidays.

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.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 3 September 2024.

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.