1,000 operations at Black Country and Staffordshire hospitals cancelled at the last minute

The "dreadful impact" of the coronavirus pandemic can be seen in the cancellation of thousands of planned surgeries across England, according to the Patients Association.

NHS England figures show that 913 pre-booked operations were postponed on or after the day the patient was admitted between October and December 2021.

The figure was 441 at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs Stafford's County Hospital and Royal Stoke University Hospital.

At The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, 187 pre-booked operations were postponed, while the figure was 157 at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust; 91 at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and 37 at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.

Hospital bosses say operations can be postponed due to more urgent cases needing to be prioritised, staff sickness or redeployment, delayed patient discharges or patients testing positive for coronavirus and not being able to have their operations as planned.

Diane Wake, elective care lead for the Black Country and West Birmingham, said: "We do everything we can to avoid delaying operations, however during the pandemic we have had to postpone procedures for some patients.

"We strive to ensure patients are rebooked as soon as possible, however this is done on clinical need.

"Our surgical team are putting on extra sessions, including carrying out more procedures at weekends, as we work hard to recover from the impact of the Covid pandemic on all services."

A UHNM spokesperson said: “As a result of significant demand for NHS services and an increase in staff absence due to Covid-19, UHNM made the difficult decision to postpone some operations.

“Prior to any cancellation there is a rigorous clinical prioritisation process and this temporary suspension helped to alleviate pressures at Stafford’s County Hospital and Royal Stoke University Hospital.

“We would like to apologise to patients if they have experienced a delay in their treatment and would reassure patients that we have now started to increase the number of elective procedures undertaken in our hospitals.”

Across England, NHS providers cancelled 19,300 elective surgeries for non-clinical reasons over the three-month period.

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said the NHS needed more staff and resources to tackle the problem.

She added: "Every cancellation just adds to the backlog NHS England is trying to clear and the growing number of patients waiting for treatment.

"For individual patients, having long-awaited surgery cancelled at the last minute can be devasting, especially if they've no idea when they will finally be called in.

"The challenge for the NHS is managing to treat all the people currently waiting for care and treatment, while also managing patients newly seeking care."

An NHS spokeswoman said there is no doubt that the health service has faced significant pressures over winter, balancing vital patient services with the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, record high staff absences and the delivery of booster jabs.

She said: "While it was necessary to postpone some routine procedures, the latest data shows that an extra 107,000 patients started consultant-led treatment in December 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, and the recently published elective recovery plan sets out that the NHS will address backlogs and tackle long waits for care.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said the Government's plan to tackle the Covid-19 backlog and deliver long term reform would mean 99 per cent of patients would wait less than a year for treatment by 2024.

He added: "We will deliver innovative ways of working including new surgical hubs and at least 100 community diagnostic centres to help millions of patients get the surgery they need and earlier access to tests – delivering an extra nine million scans, checks and procedures by 2025."