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 the patient was due to be treated. Information on the reasons for cancellations are also included.

Main points

  • The total number of planned operations across NHSScotland during January 2021 was 11,830, a decrease of 29.3% from 16,740 in December 2020 and a decrease of 59.0% from 28,863 in January 2020.
  • In January 2021, 968 operations, or 8.2% of all planned operations, were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was due to be treated. This compares to 1,257 (7.5%) in December and 2,750 (9.5%) in January 2020. Across NHSScotland, the percentage ranged by Board from 2.8% to 11.2%.
  • Of all planned operations during January 2021, 337 (2.8%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 279 (2.4%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, 287 (2.4%) were cancelled by the patient and 65 (0.5%) were cancelled due to other reasons.
Image caption Percentage of total planned operations by reasons for cancellation, up to January 2021
This is a line chart showing data on the total percentage of patients in NHS Scotland who had their Planned Operation Cancelled for the reasons of clinical, non clinical/capacity, cancelled by patient and other reason. Data is from January 2020 to January 2021. A red vertical line at March 2020 shows the point where the NHS was placed under emergency measures to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data shows a peak in non-clinical/capacity reasons in March 2020 due to the emergency measures.

Background

These statistics are released monthly. Data for this publication are submitted from NHS Board theatre systems.

The following definitions are used for the cancellation reason groupings:

  • Cancellation based on clinical reason by hospital includes 'patient unwell', 'patient not prepared for procedure correctly by hospital' and 'patient did not follow pre op instruction'
  • Cancellation based on capacity or non-clinical reason by hospital includes 'no beds available', 'staff not available', 'equipment not available' and 'theatre session overran'
  • Cancellation by patient includes 'patient decides not to go ahead with procedure', 'patient unable to attend', 'patient did not attend' and 'patient did not attend pre-op'
  • Other includes 'fire alarm prevents operation from taking place', 'weather prevented patient / staff travelling' and 'patient transport did not arrive in time to bring patient to hospital'.

These statistics continue to be affected by the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. During the early stage of the outbreak many operations were cancelled well ahead of their planned date, particularly if related to non-urgent elective treatment. From the 19 June, Boards started to resume some services as part of the planned remobilisation of services (external website), which will include the rescheduling of cancelled procedures. Then, as a second wave of COVID-19 cases emerged through the autumn months, a strategic national framework (external website) was introduced by the Scottish Government with the aim of supressing the virus to the lowest possible level whilst tackling the ‘harms’ caused by the pandemic. This included maximising the safe and effective resumption of planned services where possible, whilst balancing the need to ensure sufficient capacity to respond to the resurgence of COVID-19. On the 18 November the SG published a Clinical Prioritisation Framework (external website) with the aim of providing guidance on how patients waiting for treatment should be prioritised whilst ensuring appropriate COVID-19 safety and priority measures are in place.

Further information

Data from this publication is available to download from the data files section at the top of this page. Open data is available from the Scottish Health and Social Care Open Data platform (external website).

For more information on cancelled planned operations see the cancelled planned operations section. For related topics, please see the waiting times pages on the Data and Intelligence website (external website).

The next release of this publication will be April 2021.

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.

General enquiries

If you have an enquiry relating to this publication, please email phs.waitingtimes@phs.scot.

Media enquiries

If you have a media enquiry relating to this publication, please contact the Communications and Engagement team.

Requesting other formats and reporting issues

If you require publications or documents in other formats, please email phs.otherformats@phs.scot.

To report any issues with a publication, please email phs.generalpublications@phs.scot.

Older versions of this publication

Versions of this publication released before 16 March 2020 may be found on the Data and Intelligence, Health Protection Scotland or Improving Health websites.

Last updated: 21 March 2024
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