Almost a quarter of NHS elective operations cancelled at last minute

Almost a quarter of elective operations in NHS hospitals in England last year were cancelled at the last minute and took longer than the required 28 days to rearrange, figures show.

- Matthew Weaver

They also reveal that the number of cancellations breaching the 28-day standard for a new date has more than doubled within a decade, from 9,000 in 2015-16 to 19,400 in 2024-25.

The figures obtained by the House of Commons Library on behalf of the Liberal Democrats show that a decade ago only 7% of elective operations that were cancelled were not rearranged within 28 days.

Last year's total of 19,400 cancellations not rearranged in time represents 23% of the 85,400 operations that had been due to take place.

This figure was also up 1,500 on the previous year - an increase of 8%.

The NHS trust with the highest number of breaches that had not experienced a recent merger was University Hospitals of Leicester, with 942, followed by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare, with 710.

Of the 108 English NHS trusts that reported full data for each year since 2015-16, 73 had a rise in the number of breaches.