In the last 12 months the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has stopped 27 key surgeries.
Latest health data has revealed that in October 2017, the Trust had to cancel two urgent and potentially life saving operations.
Two thirds of Trusts didn’t cancel operations
According to statistics from the NHS, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust was one of just 40 hospital trusts in England to cancel at least one important procedure in October.
More than two thirds of the country’s trusts did not rearrange a single urgent operation over the same time period.
Trust: “Rescheduled as quickly as possible”
OnTheWight got in touch with the Isle of Wight NHS Trust to find out why the most recent operations were cancelled.
A spokesman for Isle of Wight NHS Trust said:
“We’re very sorry that it is sometimes necessary to cancel operations and we apologised at the time to the two patients whose operations were cancelled in October.
“The decision to cancel an operation is never taken lightly, particularly on the day and especially when it is classified as ‘urgent’. All options to avoid this would have been explored by the clinical and managerial staff involved. Urgent operations are rescheduled as quickly as possible.
“In October one patient was cancelled due to running out of theatre time when earlier operations took longer than expected. The patient was on a specialist list with a number of complicated procedures involved.
“The second patient was cancelled due to all beds at St. Mary’s being occupied.”
More funding needed
The figures may spark concern given the winter months are fast approaching, when more pressure is expected to be placed on NHS services.
The chief executive of NHS England Simon Stevens recently warned ministers that waiting times would continue to rise unless more money was put into the health service, after the chancellor Philip Hammond promised £350 million in the Budget to help this winter.
Image: leecullivan under CC BY 2.0
