Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what records his Department holds on (a) how many patients have had operations postponed since 1 January 2018 and (b) what the average waiting time was to reschedule those operations.

Information on the number of patients who have had operations postponed following the recommendation from the National Emergency Pressures Panel that non-urgent inpatient elective care is deferred until 31 January 2018 is not collected centrally.

NHS England publishes quarterly performance data on cancelled elective operations, which includes national, regional and provider level activity, and this can be accessed at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancelled-elective-operations/cancelled-ops-data/

The data covering quarter 4, 2017/18 will be published on 8 June 2018. This will provide figures for the number of last minute cancellations for non-clinical reasons (where the operations was cancelled on the day the patient was due to arrive, after the patient has arrived in hospital or on the day of the operation or surgery); and the number of those last minute cancellations where the provider did not offer an alternative admission date within 28 days.