Cancelled ops plan under fire

Senior managers are warning that a new£8.5m scheme to bring in troubleshooters to help trusts cut the number of cancelled operations may not go far enough.

The posts will be set up at all zero and one-star trusts, as well as two-star trusts currently suffering from high cancellation rates. Each will get£75,000 of government cash.All other trusts will get up to£35,000 of so-called 'incentive funding'. Trusts are already judged on their cancellation rates under the NHS performance ratings introduced last September, but hospitals being helped by the scheme will also be subjected to targets set by the Modernisation Agency and their performance assessed in monthly reviews.

Robert Woolley, performance director at United Bristol Healthcare trust, said: 'It is reasonable for the Department of Health to want to see definite progress. But like other trusts, we face big pressures from bed availability which need addressing - around acute beds on the surgical wards and ITU beds. And there is also the issue of rising emergency admissions and the lack of trained theatre staff available.'

He stressed there were professional issues too, relating to the working practices of surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre staff, which could only be resolved at a senior management level.

Andrew Stevens, director of planning and information at Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals trust, also welcomed the extra money, but said work was already underway to tackle the problem. 'We have set in place a comprehensive action plan which includes making sure we schedule non-urgent operations much more closely to the availability of resources, such as beds and theatre time.'

There are wide variations in cancellation rates across England - from just 0.1 per cent at the bestperforming trust to 18 per cent at the worst.

And according to the DoH, last year an estimated 78,000 patients in England were told 'at the last minute' their operations had been cancelled. Health minister John Hutton said the situation was 'unacceptable' and chief executives would be 'held accountable for the performance of their hospitals'.