560 cancelled hospital operations in September across Scotland
Hospitals across Scotland cancelled more than 500 planned operations in a month for reasons including lack of space or staff.
A total of 2,562 (9.2%) of planned procedures were called off in September, according to the latest statistics.
Of these 560 (2%) were cancelled by the hospital for capacity or non-clinical reasons such as beds, staff or equipment not being available or an emergency operation taking priority. The proportion is the highest since May.
The figures also show 970 (3.5%) operations were halted by the hospital for clinical reasons, while patients themselves cancelled 943 (3.4%).
The overall cancellation rate is up 8.5% from the previous month but has dipped marginally year on year from 9.3% in September 2016.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: These new statistics show that almost 20 patients a day are having their operations cancelled through no fault of their own.
More than 100 of these operations were cancelled in NHS Grampian alone, while one in five patients in the Western Isles found their operation cancelled for capacity or non-clinical reasons.''
He said the cancellations cause stress and disruption'' to patients, adding:SNP ministers must give NHS boards the support they need in order to be able to keep operations on track.''
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: Decisions to cancel planned operations are never taken lightly. There are, however, sometimes good clinical reasons why a procedure cannot go ahead.
We are continually working with health boards to keep all cancellations to a minimum. We have made clear to boards that patients with the greatest clinical need, such as cancer patients, should not have their operations cancelled.
In September, more than 25,000 operations were carried out as planned and only 2% were cancelled due to capacity or non-clinical reasons.
Earlier this year we announced a new collaborative group to ensure we bring together expert support to transform scheduled care and put the services on a sustainable footing.''