Over 300 long-planned operations are cancelled each day as England’s NHS hospitals need more beds for A&E departments under record-breaking strain.
In the first two weeks of December, 3,113 elective operations were cancelled - many only hours before surgery or when the patient had already been admitted to the hospital. An increase of 16 per cent since the first fortnight of December last year and almost 50 per cent in two years.
The figures show the impact of growing numbers of older people at A&Es as social care support is taken away from vulnerable people.
In the same period, 161 urgent operations - where life and limb is at risk and surgery should take place within hours - were also cancelled at short notice, up from 138 last year.
On Monday 8th December, 410 elective operations were cancelled - the single worst day so far this winter and 100 operations more than last winter’s high.
The fortnight saw record numbers of patients admitted to hospital through A&E departments - 159,054, up from 150,482 last year. Hospital A&Es saw a record 17,886 patients on trolleys up to 12 hours waiting for a bed, more than double the 7,634 patients in the same weeks last year.
Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:
“This is yet another sign that, under David Cameron, the NHS is simply not working.
"Standards of patient care are slipping by the week and now more and more people get ready for an operation only to face a last minute postponement.
"The chaos in A&E is spreading through the NHS. Hospitals are in danger of becoming overwhelmed as the Government takes social care away from older people and makes it harder to see a GP. These cancellations help to explain why operation waiting lists are at a six-year high.
"Labour will rescue the NHS with £2.5 billion extra each year - over and above Tory plans - to invest in a new workforce, including 20,000 extra nurses and 8,000 GPs.
"People can see the NHS has gone downhill under this Government. It shows you can’t trust the Tories with it. This is why the NHS is set to be a decisive issue at the election.”