Cancelled planned operations
Month Ending 31 January 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, an error has been identified at NHS Orkney which means historic statistics for this Board prior to July 2023 are likely to be undercounting the true number of cancellations. PHS are collaborating with NHS Orkney to resolve this issue.

Main points

• During January 2024, there were 24,186 operations planned to take place across NHSScotland. This is 16.9% higher than the number planned a year previously in January 2023 (20,685).
• The number of planned operations has been steadily increasing since pandemic restrictions first affected provision of services in March 2020. In the 12 months to January 2024, there was a 9.7% increase in the number of planned operations compared to the previous 12 months. This compares to a 17.3% year-on-year increase when comparing year ending January 2023 to year ending January 2022. However, activity remains lower than pre-pandemic levels. When comparing to January 2020 (28,863), there were 16.2% fewer operations planned during the latest month.
• During the latest month, 10% (2,425) of planned operations were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was due to be treated in NHSScotland. This is a slightly higher rate than both the 9.5% (1,973) reported during January 2023 and that reported in January 2020 (9.5%, 2,750). Across NHS Boards, the percentage of cancelled planned operations ranged from 4.8% to 18.9%.
• Of all planned operations during January 2024 in NHSScotland, 739 (3.1%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 830 (3.4%) were cancelled by the patient, 668 (2.8%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 188 (0.8%) were cancelled due to other reasons

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

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Total planned operations and percentage of cancelled planned operations, by reason, up to January 2024.

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 5 March 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.