Tens of thousands of people have have had their operations cancelled because of staff shortages and faulty medical equipment, according to newly revealed NHS figures.
The number of procedures called off by hospitals for non-clinical reasons has increased by 32 per cent in the last two years, the statistics obtained via a freedom of information (FOI) request. Almost 4,000 more were scrapped in 2018 than in 2016.
They also show that of the 79,000 operations to be cancelled last year, 20 per cent were scrapped because of staffing issues and equipment failures.
It comes as the staff vacancies continue to put the health service under strain, with the NHS reporting last year it was short of 100,000 staff including, 10,000 doctors and 35,000 nurses.
Meanwhile, the Nuffield Trust charity puts the amount needed to repair faulty equipment across the service provider at £6bn.
Boris Johnson pledged to spend an additional £350m of government funding for capital projects like new equipment as part of £1.8bn additional funding for hospital infrastructure in August.
But after the figures were revealed, Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s shadow health and social care secretary, said: “That so many more people in pain and distress are forced to endure cancelled operations, including increasingly on the day they were supposed to have treatment, is a shameful indictment of a decade of Tory cutbacks running our NHS into the ground.
“The simple truth is under the Tories, patients wait longer and longer for vital care. This general election is about the future of the NHS and ensuring quality care for all. Labour will fully fund our NHS, recruit the doctors and nurses we need and safeguard our NHS from a Trump deal sell off that could cost the NHS £500m a week.”
The figures were compiled by the Labour party and are based on responses from 82 per cent of hospital trusts.
They come shortly after doctors accused Mr Johnson of only recognising an “unprecedented” NHS winter crisis, because of fears it will hamper the Conservative party’s chances in the general election.
“Under this government’s watch, patients and staff working in the NHS have endured winter after winter of overcrowded emergency departments, long delays and pitifully low staffing levels,” said British Medical Association chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul.
“It should not take an election to take stock of just how bad the situation has become.”
