Cancelled planned operations
Month Ending 31 May 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 May 2024, there were 25,657 operations planned to take place across NHSScotland. This is 6.4% higher than the number planned a year previously in May 2023 (24,125).
• The number of planned operations has been steadily increasing since pandemic restrictions first affected provision of services in March 2020. In the 12 months from April 2023 to May 2024, there was an 8% increase in the number of planned operations compared to the previous 12 months. This compares to a 15.3% year-on-year increase when comparing year ending May 2023 to year ending May 2022. However, activity remains lower than pre-pandemic levels. When comparing the 12 months from March 2019 to February 2020, prior to when the COVID-19 pandemic began to significantly impact service provision, against the year to May 2024, there were 14.6% fewer operations planned during the latest month.
• During the latest month, 7.9% (2,027) 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 lower rate than both the 8.3% (2,003) reported during May 2023 and that reported in May 2019 (8.3%, 2,469). Across NHS Boards, the percentage of cancelled planned operations ranged from 4% to 11.1%.
• Of all planned operations during May 2024 in NHSScotland, 764 (3%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 736 (2.9%) were cancelled by the patient, 461 (1.8%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 66 (0.3%) 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 May 2024.

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Total planned operations and percentage of cancelled planned operations by reason to May 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 6 August 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.