Over 800 children’s operations cancelled at local hospitals over past five years

Over 800 children’s operations have been cancelled at hospitals serving Elmbridge residents in the past five years, many due to a shortage of staff and beds, shocking figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

The data, obtained by the Liberal Democrats through Freedom of Information requests, shows that there were a total of 624 operations cancelled at Ashford and St Peter’s hospital in Chertsey and 192 operations cancelled at Epsom and St Helier hospital between 2018 and 2022. At Ashford and St Peter’s, 108 children’s operations were cancelled due to a lack of beds and 15 due to staff shortages since 2018. Another 14 were cancelled due to equipment problems, such as machines being faulty or not being available.

Some children at Ashford and St Peter’s were left waiting up to 700 days for an operation, the data suggests.

The Liberal Democrats are urging the government to come up with a rescue plan to bring health services back from the brink. This would include bringing in a proper plan to tackle workforce shortages in the NHS, investing in newer equipment and increasing bed capacity at local hospitals.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Monica Harding said:

“Behind these shocking figures are countless children and parents in our community having to wait in pain and distress.

"Years of neglect by this government have led to chronic staff shortages and a lack of hospital beds, and now local families are paying the price.

“The Liberal Democrats are calling for a rescue plan now to bring local health services back from the brink. That must include increasing bed capacity and tackling staff shortages so people aren’t left waiting so long for the care they deserve.

“The local elections in May are a chance to send this out-of-touch Government a message that people are fed up with being taken for granted, and want to see more investment in fixing our local health services.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Full data broken down by local NHS trust is available here.

The Liberal Democrats are demanding a rescue plan for the NHS and care. This would include:

Recruit an extra 8,000 GPs to deliver 65 million more appointments a year, taking pressure off hospitals and getting patients the urgent attention they need.

Boosting capital investment in the health service, including increasing the number of hospital beds and investing in newer equipment.

Introduce a Carer’s Minimum Wage for social care workers to stem the exodus of staff and ensure hospitals can discharge their patients safely and efficiently.

Ensure the Government brings forward their NHS workforce plan now, and fully fund pay rises for staff so that the NHS doesn’t have to stretch its budget even further.