Professor John Robertson OBA
From Cancelled planned operations Month Ending 31 May 2025 published today, the above graph and:
Of all planned operations during May 2025 in NHSScotland, 819 (3.3%) were cancelled by the hospital for clinical reasons, 692 (2.8%) were cancelled by the patient, 437 (1.7%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 71 (0.3%) were cancelled for other reasons.
Only those operations cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons (1.7%) can be considered in anyway a negative performance indicator. They are likely to be the unanticipated result of staff sickness or the prioritising of sudden emergency admissions. Otherwise, medics and patients are entitled to change their views, even at the last minute.
This means that NHS Scotland was ready to undertake 98.3% of all planned operations on time and has been at 97% or better for the last 3 years, at least. This is deeply impressive for a very large institution working in an intense, complex and shifting environment. It will get no media attention.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
One thought on “Deeply impressive – NHS Scotland fully ready to operate on more than 98% of more than 25 000 operations in May 2025 but you won’t hear that anywhere else”