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A hospital chief has said staff are ‘working hard’ to reschedule operations – after one in seven patients over a three month period were found to be still waiting four weeks after cancellation.

NHS England figures show 185 pre-booked operations at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were postponed on or after the day the patient was admitted between April and June.

The NHS aims to offer all people who have routine surgery cancelled at the last minute for non-clinical reasons another date within 28 days.

But of the patients who had procedures cancelled at the trust, 26 had to wait more than four weeks for a new date – giving a breach rate of 14%.

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals Trust was found to have cancelled 185 pre-booked operations in April to June.

This was up from 8% in the first three months of the year, and 1% over the same period in 2019-20, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Data on cancellations was not collected between January 2020 and September 2021 due to Covid-19 disruption across the NHS.

Across England, 23.6% of hospital patients were not treated within 28 days of a cancelled surgery – up from 23% the previous quarter, and one of the highest rates since records began in 1994.

Common non-clinical reasons for last-minute cancellations include a lack of hospital beds, surgeons being unavailable, emergency cases taking precedence, equipment failure and staff shortages.

George Briggs, interim chief operating officer at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, said: “First of all, I want to apologise to individuals who have had any procedures cancelled with us, particularly at short notice.

“Colleagues are working hard to ensure that an alternative date is offered as soon as possible, and we are sorry for any inconvenience and delay as we, and the rest of the NHS, work through the significant backlog of activity.

“In this time period, COVID-19 infection rates began to rise locally, and with it we experienced significant staff absence as a result. This meant that we had to re-prioritise our workload, and some procedures were unfortunately cancelled.

“Further compounding this issue has been the extreme heat we have experienced this summer, which, on the hottest days, has created difficulties for us in keeping our operating rooms at optimal temperatures, and again meant that some procedures have had to be rearranged as a result.

“Rest assured, we are doing all we can to ensure that patients do not need to wait any longer than is necessary.”

One in seven patients face delays after operations cancelled at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals Trust

Data on cancellations was not collected between January 2020 and September 2021 due to Covid-19 disruption across the NHS.