Claims that Lanarkshire patients are 'suffering' as operation numbers drop

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Central Scotland MSP Meghan Gallacher claims patients would have been “suffering in pain” after NHS Lanarkshire cancelled thousands of operations.The Scottish Parliamentarian labelled the number of cancelled operations in the health board area since March 2020 as “absolutely staggering”.The Scottish Conservative politician was responding to new statistics from Public Health Scotland which reveal that NHS Lanarkshire carried out over 28,000 fewer operations between then and January of this year, compared to the equivalent period between April 2018 and February 2020.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android Between April 2018 and February 2020 a total of 48,331 operations went ahead, while the number between March 2020 and January this year was just 20,146.However, the number of scheduled operations each month has been greatly reduced during the latter period and is still not back to pre-pandemic levels.In January this year there were a total of 1053 scheduled elective operations in the theatre system, but 300 of them (28.5 per cent) were cancelled.

Eight per cent (84) were cancelled by the patients themselves. Of the others 150 were scheduled elective cancellations in theatre systems, 84 were cancelled by the patients themselves, 45 were by the hospitals because of clinical reasons, another 20 cases didn’t