Number of cancelled operations dropped slightly in May, latest figures show

May saw 1,911 operations cancelled in Scotland (Peter Byrne/PA)

The number of cancelled operations in Scotland’s hospitals dropped slightly in May, latest figures show.

Monthly data from Public Health Scotland revealed there were 21,895 operations scheduled to take place last month – an increase of 19% when compared to April’s 18,392.

However, this was still 20.8% fewer than the number of operations that were set to take place in February 2020, prior to the pandemic.

Of the operations scheduled for May, 1,911 operations – or 8.7% – were cancelled on the day the patient was due to be treated, or on the day before.

This marks a slight decrease from April’s figure of 9.3%.

Of the 1,911 cancellations, 667 (3%) were put back by the hospital due to clinical reasons, and 483 (2.2%) were impacted by capacity or non-clinical reasons.

Cancellations by patients themselves resulted in 665 (3%) surgeries being affected, while 96 (0.4%) were down to “other reasons”.

The rate of cancellations being carried out by patients has returned to pre-pandemic levels, Public Health Scotland added.