Cancelled Operations Higher Under Labour - POTTS

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 27th Feb 2005

"Cancelled operations are a barometer of just how stretched hospitals are. The fact that cancellations are higher now than when Labour came to power should be worrying Government Ministers." says Sam Potts

Commenting on official figures showing that the number of NHS operations cancelled at the last minute in English hospitals has risen under Labour, Liberal Democrat Sam Potts said:

"Despite the Government's claims that the NHS is getting better, these figures show that doctors and nurses are struggling in the face of a crisis in NHS capacity.

"Cancelled operations are a barometer of just how stretched hospitals are. The fact that cancellations are higher now than when Labour came to power should be worrying Government Ministers.

"Targets can never capture the complexity of health care. They inevitably miss the point, and in this case contributing contibuting to thousands of operations being cancelled. Wards are faced with a Catch 22 situation. They either help the hospital hit the four hour A&E target or meet the inpatient waiting time target. Wards become full, operations get cancelled and patients suffer as a result."

ENDS