5,296 operations were cancelled at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust last year, because there weren’t enough staff to deliver them, a lack of beds, equipment failure, and other reasons which lay bare the crisis in the NHS.
808 operations were cancelled due to a lack of staff available at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust. In total across England around 30,000 operations were cancelled due to staff shortages.
Data collected by the Labour Party from freedom of information requests made to NHS hospitals show the impact of 12 years of underinvestment in our NHS by the Conservatives. Staff shortages were the most common reason given for cancellations by hospitals, accounting for 1 in 5 of all operations cancelled for non-clinical reasons in 2021/22.
Labour will address staff shortages and ensure patients can get treatment when they need it by:
- Doubling the number of medical school places, training 15,000 doctors a year
- Training 10,000 new nurses and midwives each year
- Doubling the number of district nurses qualifying every year
- Training 5,000 new health visitors
The plans will be paid for by abolishing non-dom tax status, which allows residents of the UK to avoid paying taxes here.
Labour’s information request has also found that 254 operations were cancelled at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust because of a shortage of beds, 99 because of equipment failure, 0 because of administrative errors, 223 as theatre lists overran, and 749 because an emergency case took priority.
Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“Patients are forced to wait longer for vital operations because the Conservatives have failed to train enough staff over the past 12 years.
Having operations cancelled causes huge disruption to patients, and prevents them from being able to get on with their lives.
Labour will tackle this problem at its root. We will train a new generation of doctors and nurses so patients get the treatment they need, when they need it.
We will abolish non-doms to pay for it because patients need treatment more than the wealthiest need a tax break and if you live and work in Britain you should pay your taxes here.”
