Hundreds of patients saw operations cancelled at short-notice in August

More than 2,000 planned operations were cancelled at short-notice in August, figures show.

Data from Public Health Scotland shows 2,110 operations were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was meant to be treated.

That was 8.5% of all planned operations, the same figure as the previous month but slightly higher than the pre-Covid figure in 2019 of 8.4%.

Some 3% of operations were cancelled by the hospital for clinical reasons, another 3% were cancelled by the patient, and 2.1% were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons. A total of 0.3% of cancellations were for “other reasons”.

Overall, the number of operations taking place across the NHS increased by 3.1% to 24,750 compared to the same time last year.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “SNP ministers should be ashamed that, on their watch, over 2,000 operations were cancelled at the 11th hour.

“These last-minute cancellations are absolutely soul-destroying for patients, who’ve already endured months of pain and anxiety, only to be told there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

“This is the brutal legacy of (former health secretary) Humza Yousaf’s pathetic Covid recovery plan – which even Nicola Sturgeon admitted was awful.

“If the numbers are this bad now, then patients and frontline staff are in for a gruelling winter.

“(Health Secretary) Neil Gray can’t just cross his fingers and hope this crisis fixes itself. He needs to adopt our plan to take an axe to red tape and boost capacity in our NHS.”

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: “It’s three years since the end of lockdown yet this SNP government’s long-promised NHS recovery is already running out of steam.

“Nearly one in six Scots are on an NHS waiting list yet operating theatres are not working at full capacity – the SNP must act quickly to reduce the backlog and end the misery for patients waiting in pain.

“Scottish Labour will bring the waiting lists down by paying for extra capacity in public or private facilities across the UK and ensuring the money follows the patient not the health board.

“It’s the new direction our NHS needs.”

Mr Gray said: “Our plan to improve the NHS is working, with these statistics showing an increase in the number of planned operations performed compared to the previous 12 months.

“While some services remain under pressure, this progress is welcome, and I thank all of the hard-working NHS staff who have contributed to this.

“We are investing more than £110 million this year to cut waits, and we expect to see the full impact of our targeted funding in the coming months. This funding is expected to deliver more than 213,000 additional procedures and appointments this year.

“We will continue driving improvements and we are working closely with health boards to ensure any patients who have had their operations cancelled are seen as quickly as possible.”