elective surgery

One in 10 NHS operations in England cancelled or postponed at last minute, study finds

A study of elective surgery at 91 English NHS trusts found 10% of operations are cancelled the day before surgery and 9% postponed at pre-op appointments, equating to approximately 300,000 cancellations nationally. Nearly 40% of these cancellations could be avoided if issues were identified 3-5 days earlier. The research, published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, found two-thirds of pre-op postponements occur because patients need further tests or specialist review. With over 6 million patients waiting for treatment, authors call for overhauling clinical pathways with earlier screening and better scheduling.