Fewer cancelled operations at Northampton General Hospital than last year, figures reveal

Northampton General Hospital cancelled fewer elective operations at the last minute in the three months to December 2022 than across the same time period the year before, new NHS figures show.

NHS England figures show 102 elective operations were cancelled at the last minute in the three months to December at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust, which was in line with the previous quarter.

It meant a total of 403 operations were cancelled on the day the patient arrived at hospital, after they arrived, or on the day of the operation itself in 2022.

Nationally, cancelled operations rose by nine percent in the three months to December from the previous quarter and 10 percent on the same time period in 2021.

The proportion of cancelled operations has remained consistent at around one percent of the total number of operations planned since before the pandemic.

Mr Tim Mitchell, vice-president of the RCS of England, said: "No surgeon wants to be in the position of telling a patient their surgery has to be cancelled but the very high demand we have seen in emergency departments since the summer, and problems discharging patients who are ready to leave hospital when there is a lack of social care, mean this is too often what has to happen.

"Gaps in the workforce also play a huge part. Often there will be a surgeon available to operate, but no theatre nurses or anaesthetists."

More patients of cancelled operations across England also had to wait longer to be treated again.

Some 4,590 patients were forced to wait more than 28 days to be treated following their operation being cancelled in the three months to December – up from 4,150 the previous quarter.

Of these, none were at Northampton General Hospital – in line with the previous quarter.

The Department for Health and Social care said bringing down waiting lists and providing the highest quality care is a "top priority", and that the rise in cancellations was driven by the increase in booked operations.