Coronavirus causes over two million operation cancellations

It has been revealed that doctors have had to postpone more than two million operations after non-emergency surgery was cancelled for at least three months to free up beds for coronavirus patients.

NHS England says that postponing the planned operations, which typically cost £1 billion per month, has released 12,000 beds for patients who have fallen ill after contracting the virus. But, the rising backlog of procedures could now cost the NHS £3 billion to work through and may require many of the 20,000 doctors and nurses who have returned to the health service to stay on once the coronavirus crisis becomes less severe.

Speaking to the Sunday People, Derek Alderson, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons in England, said: “We are probably only delivering around on- third of our usual surgical activity and that’s nearly all for emergency and very urgent surgery. In the short term, we have to do a really major catch-up exercise to stop this backlog causing harm.

“The consequences are really serious. There are some patients who have cancers that are usually slow-growing but this may impact on long-term survival. A patient’s condition may deteriorate so they are no longer fit for the operation. Someone may be waiting for a hip replacement and may not be able to exercise and become even less fit for surgery. They may become addicted to opiates to manage their pain. Then there are all the mental health consequences.”