The organisation that runs Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals cancelled nearly 400 operations at the last minute in the last three months of 2021, as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 caused mass staff shortages.
That made Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust – which also runs Evelina London children’s hospital and Harefield and Brompton hospitals in west London – one of the worst NHS trusts for last-minute cancellations over the period from October-December 2021.
These are elective operations, which means that they are scheduled in advance, rather than being forced by an urgent medical emergency.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ had the eighth-highest number of last-minute cancellations – out of about 220 NHS trusts across the country – and the highest in London, according to the NHS figures published this month. A spokesperson for the trust pointed out that it is among the largest in the capital but declined to comment further.
King’s College Hospital NHS foundation trust cancelled 189 over the same period. St George’s University Hospitals NHS foundation trust cancelled 183 and Lewisham and Greenwich cancelled just 42.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ bringing in the armed forces as staff shortages mount
Some 95 patients at Guy’s and St Thomas’ were still waiting for surgery four weeks after their operation was cancelled at the last minute.
The news is a statistical confirmation of what we reported in the run-up to Christmas, with staff shortages at Guy’s and St Thomas’ leading hospital chiefs to cancel non-urgent surgeries.
An astonishing ten per cent of Guy’s and St Thomas’ staff were off sick in the last week of December. A spokesperson said at the time that hospital bosses had “taken the difficult decision to start to reduce some non-essential services, which is being looked at service by service”.
The situation continued in a similar vein at the start of the new year, with Guy’s and St Thomas’ bringing in military personnel to support its beleaguered staff, alongside other London NHS trusts.