Almost a quarter of the electives in NHS hospitals in England Last year was canceled at the last minute and lasted longer than the required 28 days to rearrange, according to figures.
They also reveal that the number of cancellations that the 28-day standard breaks for a new date has doubled more than 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 ten years ago, only 7% of the canceled elective operations were not rearranged within 28 days. The total of 19,400 cancellations from last year, not rearranging in time, represents 23% of the 85,400 activities that take place.
This figure had also risen by 1500 compared to the previous year – an increase of 8%.
The NHS Trust with the highest number of infringements that had not experienced a recent merger was the university Hospitals van Leicester, with 942, followed by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare, with 710.
Out of 108 English NHS Trusts that reported full data for each year since 2015-16, 73 were an increase in the number of infringements.
Helen Morgan, the spokesperson for the Lib DEM Health and Social Care, said the figures showed that patients were abandoned.
She said: “Patients are abandoned, forced to wait in pain and need for potentially life -changing operations. Each of these delays represents an extra month that someone’s misery has been extended.”
Morgan also accused the Labor Government of tackling the impact of conservative cuts on the NHS.
“This is the devastating legacy of the neglect of the conservatives of these NHS, but the Labor government proves aimless to reverse this with poorly thought out reforms and kicking vital projects in the long grass.
“This embrace of Dither and delay in building new hospitals or solving the crisis in social care, so crucial for solving the underlying problem in health care, is failing patients. The time ministers realized this and showed real ambition in ending these unacceptable delays and getting the care they deserve.”
From August, the DHSC announced a rollout of radiotherapy machines from August in 28 hospitals that it said that 4,500 cancer patients would receive faster treatment.
The new linear accelerator machines, part of a plan of £ 70 million to improve care care, can lead to a reduction in the required radiotherapy rounds and reaching cancers in difficult to treat areas such as the chest, abdomen and pelvis.
The DHSC estimates that the new machines save a maximum of 13,000 agreements that have currently been lost due to demolition of equipment. It said that by March 2027 the machines will help to deliver an additional 27,500 treatments per year.
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Prof Pat Price, chairman of Radiotherapy UK, said that the new machines were welcome but insufficient. “The brutal truth is that this will only replace half of the outdated machines in the NHS,” she said. “And yet six out of 10 cancer patients wait too long for their radiotherapy treatment. Without long -term investments in radiotherapy, this is a sticky plaster with a cancer in crisis.”
She added: “Massive watch for cancer treatment has become the rotten routine due to a lack of investments in kit and people. Unless the ministers reduce this with the correct long -term investment that is requested in the spending evaluation and the cancer plan, more patients will be left and will die that do not die.”
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said: “By reducing the number of hospital visits required and preventing canceled cancelled agreements, these ultramodern radiotherapy machines release capacity so that thousands of more patients are treated on time.
“As a cancer survivor, I know how important timely treatment is. These machines are part of the investment and modernization that will shorten the waiting times for patients, through our plan for change.”
A department of Health And spokesperson for Social Care (DHSC) said: “Years of sub -investment in the NHS has left it with outdated, creaking machines that break down and causes thousands of canceled agreements.
“That is why we announce £ 70 million investments in new radiotherapy machines with the help of advanced equipment to save 13,000 canceled agreements per year, reduce waiting times for treatment and modernize the health service. Although there is more to do, our plan has put the NHS on the road to recover.”
NHS England was approached for comment.
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