Action pledged over cancelled operations

169 procedures were called off from February 2014 to January 2015 at the trust which runs Sandwell Hospital and City Hospital in Winson Green.

And four were put back for a second time – the only area where this happened. In contrast to these figures, there were just nine cancellations at Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

There were also five at University Hospital North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs County Hospital, Stafford.

The number of operations cancelled at Sandwell and City hospitals hit a year-long high of 28 in December last year, but this dropped to eight in January.

Rachel Barlow, chief operating officer for Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "At the time our hospitals were extremely busy with increased emergency hospital admissions, compounded by high levels of flu, and we sought to focus on safe treatment of those emergency patients.

"I recognise how unsettling these changes to planned procedures can be and I would like to apologise to patients for the inconvenience caused.

"All procedures were rescheduled and have now been carried out.

"Over the last two years we have significantly reduced cancelled operations and that campaign continues."

During the 12 months there were no cancellations at all in Dudley or Walsall.

Details are not provided about the nature of the operations, but NHS England defines 'urgent' as including a possible threat to life, limb or organ survival. It could also mean a patient is stable but needs the operation 'within days'.

Across the country, the number of urgent operations cancelled has rocketed from 261 in January 2014 to 396 a year later.

The figures came just days after watchdog the CQC said the trust needs to raise standards.