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Tens of thousands of NHS operations cancelled in England due to staff shortages, data reveals

Tuesday, 13 December 2022 10:44 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 13 December 2022 11:16 AM ]

Nurses react as they treat a COVID-19 patient in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at Milton Keynes University Hospital in Britain, on January 20, 2021. (Photo by Reuters)

Staff shortages across the UK have caused the National Health Service (NHS) to call off 30,000 operations in England during the last year, new data has revealed.

According to the data requested by Labour party under freedom of information (FOI) laws, at least one third of cancelled operations were those that were deemed urgent.

The data came from response from 50 out of 122 acute trusts who responded to the FOI requests for details of cancellations over the past year.

Among the cancelled operations, 2,500 surgeries were for cancer patients and 8000 were operations on children.

The data also showed that around 158,000 operations were cancelled for non-clinical reasons.

Among the other non-clinical reasons, staff shortages has been the most prominent reason to call off one in five of operations.

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According to the FOI data, the total number of cancelled operations has doubled since 2018/2019, when 79,000 were cancelled. Furthermore, the number of cancelled operations due to workforce shortages tripled during the same period, rising from 10,900 surgeries.

Meanwhile, NHS Digital data shows staff vacancies in the NHS have reached to a record high, with England’s vacancy rate standing at 9.7 percent -more than 133,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) posts- at the end of September.

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Criticizing the conservative government’s failure on managing the shortage of staff, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “Patients are forced to wait longer for vital operations because the Conservatives have failed to train enough staff over the past 12 years.”

“Having operations cancelled causes huge disruption to patients, and prevents them from being able to get on with their lives,” he added, vowing that the Labour party will address staff shortages over the long term.

Streeting also noted that “patients need treatment more than the wealthiest need a tax break, and if you live and work in Britain you should pay your taxes here.”

Shortage of staff is not only limited to the health system in the UK. The whole country is grappling with workforce shortage, preventing businesses from keeping up with increasing demand.

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