Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has expressed his concern over recent data showing a huge increase in the number of cancelled operations because of staffing issues and equipment failures.
The data – obtained by the Labour Party through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests – show that the number of operations cancelled because of staffing issues and equipment failures have each increased by a third in two years.
Last year, 10,900 operations were cancelled because of staffing issues and 4,800 were cancelled because of equipment failures.
There are currently over 100,000 staff vacancies in the NHS, with shortages of 10,000 doctors and 43,000 nurses.
Labour sent FOI requests to all acute hospital trusts in England to ask them to provide the total number of operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons, broken down by the cause of cancellation. 82 per cent of hospital trusts responded.
No data was provided by Stockport NHS Foundation Trust. Over the past three years, Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust has seen 811 operations cancelled over the past three years – an increase 2.84% increase. 11% of these cancellations were a result of equipment failures.
Andrew Gwynne said:
“Unfortunately this data shows once again that the Tories can’t be trusted with our precious NHS.
“Almost a decade of Tory cuts has left our NHS at breaking point and unfortunately it’s ordinary people who are paying the price.
“December’s General Election can’t come soon enough so that our country can elect a Labour Government who will fully fund and properly staff our NHS.”
Jonathan Ashworth MP, the Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, said:
“That so many more people in pain and distress are forced to endure cancelled operations, including increasingly on the day they were supposed to have treatment, is a shameful indictment of a decade of Tory cutbacks running our NHS into the ground.
“The simple truth is under the Tories, patients wait longer and longer for vital care. This general election is about the future of the NHS and ensuring quality care for all.
“Labour will fully fund our NHS, recruit the doctors and nurses we need and safeguard our NHS from a Trump deal sell off that could cost the NHS £500 million a week.”