Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why there has been an increase in the number of cancelled operations in the National Health Service since 2009–10.

NHS England collects the number of operations cancelled at the ‘last minute’ for non-clinical reasons on a quarterly basis.

The number of cancelled elective operations in the final quarter of 2013-14 was not the highest ever recorded. The highest number of cancelled elective operations was recorded in quarter 4 2000-01.

Cancelled elective operations as a percentage of elective admissions are stable. In both 2009-10 and 2013-14 cancelled elective operations represented 0.9% of elective admissions, despite a 546,000 increase in the number of elective admissions in this period.

The National Health Service should do everything it can to reduce cancellations and keep them to an absolute minimum. Where this is unavoidable, patients should receive treatment as soon as possible. This is reinforced by a pledge in the NHS Constitution for all patients who have operations cancelled, on or after the day of admission (including the day of surgery), for non-clinical reasons to be offered another binding date within 28 days, or the patient’s treatment to be funded at the time and hospital of the patient’s choice.