More operations cancelled at the last minute at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

Royal College of Surgeons has blamed underfunding, fewer beds and staff shortages for the rising number of cancellations across England, which have reached the highest level since records began a quarter of a century ago.

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NHS England data shows 73 non-urgent procedures, such as hip or knee operations, were cancelled by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust at the last minute in the three months to September.

This was an increase of 52 per cent from the same period last year, when there were 48 last-minute cancellations.

The data covers cancellations for non-clinical reasons, such as bed or staff shortages.

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A last-minute cancellation is defined as being either on the day that a patient was due to arrive, after the patient has arrived, or on the day of the operation itself.

There were almost 21,000 last-minute cancellations across England in the same period, an increase of 13 per cent compared to the same period last year and the highest number since records began in 1994.

Professor Derek Alderson, president of the RCS, said it is "incredibly disappointing" for both patients and staff when operations are cancelled.

He said: "To have an operation cancelled after waiting many weeks or months not only puts the patient’s health at risk but often has important social consequences such as more time off work.

"Patients deserve to have their treatment within a reasonable timeframe.

"However, the number of cancelled operations is rising, because the NHS has been working to an ever tighter budget, with fewer hospital beds and more gaps in staff rotas.

"This is the result of several years of inadequate investment in hospital infrastructure and beds."

According to the NHS Constitution, hospitals must reschedule cancelled operations within a maximum period of 28 days.

If they are unable to do so, they must instead fund the treatment with another hospital and forfeit their payment from the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group that funds healthcare in the area.

Every patient at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust was treated within this window between July and September, an improvement on the previous year when five patients had to wait longer than four weeks.

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This is an increase on the previous year, when five patients, or 10 per cent, weren't treated within 28 days.

Across England, 7 per cent of patients did not have their operations rescheduled within 28 days.

Professor Alderson continued: "The public love the NHS and believe it deserves to be invested in.

"Whichever party forms the next government must listen to what the public expect, which is a proper level of investment in our much-treasured, but over-extended health service.”

An NHS spokesman said: “These figures reflect significant increases in demand for both emergency and planned care, but despite this the number of cancelled urgent operations remains low set against the millions of operations performed in the NHS each year.”

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A spokeswoman from The Royal Berkshire Hospital said: "Cancellations for August and September were much reduced, but the period in question covered the extreme heat wave during July when we had a problem with our air conditioning.

"Due to this we had to postpone some surgery on safety grounds, which caused a spike in cancellations.

"We mitigated this as far as possible by running unusually early theatre lists starting at 6am when temperatures were cooler.

"We also had to cancel some surgery due to the surgeon being unwell. In these circumstances we always try and find suitable cover but on this occasion we were unable to do so."