MORE than 1,500 operations were cancelled at York Hospital last year – the highest number in four years.

An investigation by The Press has revealed 1,592 operations were postponed for non-medical reasons between April 2008 and January 31 this year.

This was 309 more than in the same period 2007/08 – an increase of nearly 25 per cent.

Of the 1,592 operations, 313 were cancelled due to a shortage of nursing staff, 297 because more urgent patients took priority, and 270 because surgeons were unavailable because they were on holiday.

Meanwhile, 194 were put on hold owing to equipment issues, and 113 because surgeons were unavailable as they were on study leave. Other reasons included bed shortages (102 cancellations) and surgeons being off sick (also 102 cancellations).

Hospital chiefs today blamed the surge in the number of postponements on a massive rise in emergency admissions during the winter and staff recruitment problems.

The figures, obtained under the Freedom Of Information Act, show that, in the years 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08, cancellations decreased year-on-year, from 1,452, to 1,416 and then to 1,283.

They also revealed the highest number of times any one patient had their operation cancelled had decreased, from six times in each of the three years preceding 2008-09, to four in that year. Mike Proctor, deputy chief executive of York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Any cancellation of a scheduled operation is a matter of regret, whatever the reason. However, sometimes this is unavoidable. We seek to minimise the number of times this occurs, and reschedule any cancelled operations so that they can take place as soon as possible after their postponement.

“The increase in cancellations is due to the huge increase in emergency admissions over the winter period.

“The high level of activity meant that we had to cancel some operations to ensure we maintained our emergency services.”

“As is the situation in many hospitals, we have some issues in recruiting theatre staff, for example, operating department practitioners and some nursing staff.

“We are continually looking at ways to recruit to these posts and retain staff.

“When we have higher than usual levels of staff sickness and there are more people off work than we can plan for, this can result in operations being cancelled.”