Cancelled planned operations
Month ending 31 July 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. 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 the NHS Orkney to resolve this issue.

Main points

• During July 2023, there were 21,919 operations planned to take place across NHSScotland. This represents a decrease of 10.3% compared to the 24,435 planned for June 2023 but is 11.3% higher than the number planned a year previously in July 2022 (19,685).
• The number of operations planned each month has been steadily increasing since May 2020. For instance, in the 12 months to July 2023, there was an 18% increase in the number of planned operations compared to the previous 12 months. This compares to a 12% year-on-year increase when comparing year ending July 2022 to year ending July 2021. However, activity remains lower than pre-pandemic levels. For example, when comparing to July 2019 (26,890), there were 18.5% fewer operations planned during the latest month.
• During the latest month, 7.9% (1,732) planned operations were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was due to be treated, for NHSScotland. This has decreased from 9.1% (2,216) reported during June 2023 and remains comparable to pre-pandemic levels of 8.7% (2,345) in July 2019. Across NHS Boards, this percentage ranged from 4.6% to 12.9%.
• Of all planned operations during July 2023, for NHSScotland, 653 (3.0%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 678 (3.1%) were cancelled by the patient, 317 (1.4%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 84 (0.4%) were cancelled due to other reasons.

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

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

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 3 October 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.