Cancelled operations are a major drain on health resources 8 per cent of scheduled elective operations are cancelled nationally, within 24 hours of surgery. The aim of this study is to define the extent of this problem in one Trust, and suggest strategies to reduce the cancellation rate.
A prospective survey was conducted over a 12month period to identify cancelled day case and inpatient elective operations. A dedicated nurse practitioner was employed for this purpose, ensuring that the reasons for cancellation and the timing in relation to surgery were identified. The reasons for cancellation were grouped into patientrelated reasons, hospital clinical reasons and hospital nonclinical reasons.
In total, 13,455 operations were undertaken during the research period and 1,916 14 per cent cancellations were recorded, of which 615 were day cases and 1,301 inpatients 45 per cent n867 of cancellations were within 24 hours of surgery 51 per cent of cancellations were due to patientrelated reasons 34 per cent were cancelled for nonclinical reasons and 15 per cent for clinical reasons. The common reasons for cancellation were inconvenient appointment 18.5 per cent, list overrunning 16 per cent, the patients thought that they were unfit for surgery 12.2 per cent and emergencies and trauma 9.4 per cent.