Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made potential impact of the number of ICU beds on trends in the level of cancellations of scheduled and vital surgeries; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that surgeries that have been rescheduled for this reason are not cancelled.

No specific assessment has been made on the specific impact of intensive care unit (ICU) bed unavailability on levels of cancelled surgeries. However, tackling waiting lists is a top priority for the Government, and this includes ensuring that patients requiring inpatient treatment will have access to high quality post-operative care.

Between July and September 2025, 0.91% of elective admissions were cancelled last minute by the provider for non-clinical reasons, with 20,189 last minute cancellations, an improvement of 0.06% from the same period the previous year when 0.97% of elective admissions were cancelled last minute, with 21,249 last minute cancellations.

The Department does not hold data broken down by the reason for cancellation, but the rescheduling rate has also improved. If an NHS hospital cancels a patient's operation for non-clinical reasons on the day of admission or day of surgery, the NHS Constitution states it must be rescheduled within 28 days. Between July and September 2025, 21.2% of cancelled elective operations which were not treated within 28 days, so, whilst there is still work to do, this is an improvement from 22.7% in the previous year.

This winter, local systems have been asked to place a particular focus on reducing bed occupancy and improving patient flow. More broadly for 2025/26, we have asked NHS trusts to focus on eliminating discharge delays of more than 48 hours caused by issues within the hospital, and to work with local authorities to eliminate the longest delays, starting with those of over 21 days. This will mitigate against the risk of cancelled or rescheduled operations due to intensive care bed unavailability. Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, also set out actions to enhance perioperative care, which can shorten patients’ length of hospital stay and minimise postoperative complications, freeing up hospital beds for those who need them.

Wider elective care reforms will also help make the best use of clinical capacity, so that if a patient’s surgery is cancelled on the day due to ICU bed unavailability, they can be offered a new date for their procedure without delay. This includes new and expanded dedicated surgical hubs to deliver common procedures, thereby freeing up capacity for more complex patients, tackle missed appointments, introduce more straight-to-test pathways, and reduce unnecessary follow up appointments through widening remote monitoring and patient-initiated follow-ups.