Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Cash-strapped Tayside and Fife health boards scrap operations due to lack of essential resources

Ninewells Hospital.
Ninewells Hospital.

Hospitals in Tayside and Fife cancelled more than 70 operations in one month for reasons such as lack of space, equipment or staff.

A total of 279 planned procedures were called off by the region’s two health boards in September, according to new figures.

NHS Tayside was forced to scrap 54 operations for capacity or non-clinical reasons, while NHS Fife halted a further 19 during the period.

At Ninewells Hospital alone, 35 procedures were called off due to lack of beds or resources or an emergency procedure taking priority.

Only Grampian, Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Lothian had more cancellations – with all three health boards coping with a significantly greater number of procedures.

North East Conservative MSP Bill Bowman said the issue raises serious questions over how the operations will be rescheduled given all non-emergency surgeries over the three-week Christmas period have already been scrapped.

He said: “Although some cancellations cannot be helped by the health boards, there is still not enough staff, space or beds to carry out those remaining.

Under-fire health secretary Shona Robison

“More and more procedures are being sent to Ninewells from Stracathro and Perth Royal Infirmary. What is happening when they get there?

“I have asked Scotland’s health minister whether seasonal closure of routine operations will become expected in Tayside and am still waiting for a real answer.”

These latest figures, released in an official NHS report, show hospitals across Scotland cancelled 560 operations in September due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, while patients themselves cancelled 943.

A further 970 were halted as a result of clinical considerations.

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.”

He said 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 claimed decisions to cancel planned operations are “never taken lightly” and said there are sometimes “good clinical reasons” why a procedure cannot go head.

“We are continually working with health boards to keep all cancellations to a minimum,” she said.

“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.”