England: 6,000 operations cancelled every month
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Almost 18,000 operations were cancelled for non-clinical reasons on or after the day of admission to hospitals in England in the last three months of 2002, the UK Department of Health reported today (March 12 2003). Of these cancellations, which represent 1.3% of all elective admissions, almost 12,000 were on the day of surgery. Despite the continued high cancellation rate, the DoH reports a 23% fall during the period April-December 2002.