Thousands of children's operations cancelled each year
Joe Lepper
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
More than 46,000 children's operations were cancelled over the last four years, NHS statistics show.
The figures, gathered through Freedom of Information requests by the Labour Party, show that 46,211 children's operations were cancelled between 2013/14 and May this year.
During 2016/17 a total of 12,349 surgical procedures involving children and young people were cancelled - a rise of 35.3 per cent on 2013/14's figure of 9,128.
The Labour Party has blamed the cancellations on cuts to NHS budgets by the Conservative government, claiming that hospitals have been left short-staffed.
Reasons for cancellations given by trusts included poor availability of anaesthetists and surgeons as well as a lack of theatre time and hospital beds.
The Labour Party said the true number of cancellations could be higher as figures were only obtained from around half (53 per cent) of England's 153 acute hospital trusts.
"The truth is that behind each of these cancellations is a poor child and their loved ones faced with unnecessary stress, largely for entirely avoidable reasons," said Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's shadow health secretary.
"A shortage of beds, failing equipment and inadequate staffing levels reflect the reality of the Tory's abject failure to properly invest in our wonderful NHS staff and to tackle our crumbling hospital infrastructure."
Professor Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has described the figures as "shocking" and "further evidence that the NHS is being pushed to the brink".
"Children are harmed by delays in operations, and for some the damage may be long-term. The failure to provide post-Brexit assurances to the 55,000 NHS workers who are EU citizens is worsening staff shortages, and junior doctors are leaving after the damaging 2016 contract dispute," she said.
"The public and among them vulnerable children, are being let down. Solutions exist but are being ignored. The NHS is too important to fall victim to political short-termism. The latest polls show over 60 per cent of the public see the NHS as one of the biggest issues facing Britain.
"We fear for children's health and wellbeing which is why we have called for cross-party agreement to stop the fragmentation of our health system, ensure it remains publically funded, provided and managed, and commit to raising the UK health budget incrementally to enable stable forward planning."
