Cancelled planned operations
Month Ending 31 October 2024

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides a monthly update on the number of operations scheduled to take place in a theatre setting within NHSScotland that were cancelled the day before or on the day of treatment.

Main points

• During October 2024, there were 24,824 operations planned to take place across NHSScotland. This is 3.9% higher (+941) than the number planned a year previously in October 2023 (23,883). Overall, the number of planned operations has been steadily increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic impacted service provision. In the 12 months from November 2023 to October 2024, there was a 3.9% increase in the number of planned operations compared to the previous 12 months. However, this remains 14.9% lower 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, 8.7% (2,155) of planned operations were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was due to be treated in NHSScotland. This is almost a full percentage point lower (-0.8) than the rate reported during October 2023 (9.5%; 2,265) but 0.2 percentage points higher than October 2019 (8.5%; 2,468). Across NHS boards, the percentage of cancelled planned operations ranged from 4.9% to 15.6% in this month.
• Of all planned operations during October 2024 in NHSScotland, 768 (3.1%) were cancelled by the hospital for clinical reasons, 697 (2.8%) were cancelled by the patient, 631 (2.5%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 59 (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 October 2024. Total number of planned operations has been steadily increasing since the start of COVID-19 emergency measures in March 2020. Although they have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. The percentage of cancelled planned operations due to clinical reasons has stayed consistent over the past 12 months at approximately 3%. Operations cancelled by patients has decreased over the past 12 months and is currently 2.8%. While operations cancelled for non clinical/capacity reason has fluctuated over the past 12 months, with a recent peak of 3.1% in September 2024 before reducing to 2.5% at the end October 2024. Percentage of cancelled planned operations due to other reasons has remained consistently low since May 2020 and is currently 0.4%. A new cancellation reason of "unknown" has been added because of the NHS Orkney data quality issues between April 2022 and May 2024 (ranging between 0.3% and 0.1%).

Close

NHSScotland total planned operations and percentage of cancelled planned operations by reason to October 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 14 January 2025.

PHS is currently undertaking a review of the statistical publications we produce; all planned care waiting times outputs are being reviewed and this may lead to a change in the content, layout and frequency of future publications. Any substantial changes will be announced ahead of implementation. For more information, please contact us at phs.waitingtimes@phs.scot.