Hundreds of operations cancelled at Wigan's hospitals

The “dreadful impact” of the coronavirus pandemic can be seen in the cancellation of thousands of planned surgeries across England, according to the Patients Association.

NHS England figures for Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) show that 226 pre-booked operations were postponed on or after the day the patient was admitted between October and December 2021.

NHS rules state that patients who have their operations cancelled at the last minute must be offered a new operation date within four weeks.

But 41 (18 per cent) of the affected WWL patients had to wait more than 28 days for a new date, the figures show – up from three per cent in 2019-20.

Across England, NHS providers cancelled 19,300 elective surgeries for non-clinical reasons over the three-month period. This equated to 1.1 per cent of all activity – a similar proportion to the same quarter in 2019-20, prior to the pandemic.

But the percentage of patients waiting more than a month for operations to be rescheduled rose sharply from nine to 24 per cent nationally.

That meant there were more than 4,600 breaches of the NHS standard.

Common non-clinical reasons for last-minute cancellations include a lack of hospital beds, surgeons being unavailable, emergency cases taking precedence, equipment failure and staff shortages.

WWL said it would like to thank the Wigan public for being so understanding and supportive of staff during what has been a difficult period.

It said that alongside colleagues across Greater Manchester it has now resumed some non-urgent surgery and appointments.

Mary Fleming, Deputy Chief Executive of WWL, said: “As part of the ongoing response to Covid-19, and the emergence of the Omicron variant, WWL regrettably had to postpone a number of planned admissions for surgery.

“This action was part of a Greater Manchester-wide decision and was in line with our incident management escalation plan. This was to ensure that we were able to respond to the projected significant increase in patients requiring emergency and critical care treatment.

“Throughout this time, surgery for cancer patients and the most clinically urgent elective patients continued.

“We know many people who were waiting for treatments during the period of October – December 2021, will have been disappointed, especially those who had already waited some time.

“If your appointment or surgery was recently postponed, we are asking you to please bear with us as we work through the waiting lists. Following guidance from NHS England, patients will be rescheduled as soon as possible based on clinical need and will be contacted directly when we can offer a new date for your appointment or surgery. There is no need to contact the hospital or your GP practice for this information.

“In the meantime, information is available on the While You Wait section of our website and the Greater Manchester While You Wait website (whileyouwait.org.uk), which both provide information and advice on how to manage physical and mental wellbeing during this time.

“We would like to reassure our patients, public and staff that their safety and protection remains our highest priority.”

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here and viewing our offers.