Rise in the number of cancelled operations

A total of 1,785 hospital operations were cancelled by NHS Dumfries and Galloway last year, it has been revealed.

- MARC MCLEAN

This equates to nearly 150 elective (planned) surgeries per month - or close to five per day.

The vast majority of locally scheduled operations for patients in this region take place at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, however a few hundred are also carried out at Galloway Community Hospital in Stranraer and Mountainhall Treatment Centre in Dumfries.

Of the 1,785 that were cancelled in 2024/25, 1,681 were called off on the same day that surgery was due to take place.

A freedom of information (FOI) request to NHS Dumfries and Galloway showed that no ward bed was available for 58 cancelled operations, which was a significant increase on 35 from the previous year.

Meanwhile, 11 scheduled operations were scrubbed due to the ward being completely closed.

This was a sharp increase on just four occasions for this reason the year before.

However, the most common reason for surgeons taking the gloves off was patients simply not showing up.

There were 512 cases last year where patients did not attend - a rise of 60 from 2023/24.