MORE than 1,000 operations were cancelled by the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals in 2013/14, an increase of nearly 30 per cent on the previous year.

Health campaigners have again raised concerns about the number of elective procedures being postponed by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which has increased every year since 2009. There were 1,009 procedures postponed last year, compared to 786 the year before.

Trust bosses said cancellations usually occur when patients are unfit to undergo surgery, or due to staff being diverted to deal with emergency patients.

But separate figures obtained by the Lancashire Telegraph through Freedom of Information laws also showed an increasing number of operations are being put off due to a lack of surgical equipment, or the equipment being faulty.

There were 194 such cases in 2013/14, compared to 149 the previous year.

According to trust board papers from the last four months, there have been drives to reduce cancellations in eye surgery and general surgery, which includes hernia repair and common procedures on the gall bladder.

Russ McLean, chairman of the Pennine Lancashrie Patient Voices Group, said: “This is a complaint that I hear on a regular basis, especially with day cases which can sometimes get cancelled three or four times.”

The total number of operations being carried out increased by six per cent over the same period, from 35,896 to 38,194, meaning the proportion cancelled by the trust increased from 2.19 to 2.64 per cent.

Gillian Simpson, divisional general manager for surgery and anaesthetic services, said: “The trust makes every effort to carry out operations on the scheduled date and time.

“We only postpone operations in exceptional circumstances because we know how stressful this can be to the patient and their family.

"Postponing operations is never ideal and we always apologise to our patients for any distress or inconvenience this may cause.

“The trust continues working hard to ensure we get maximum use of all our theatres.”

There was a ‘significant reduction’ of 11 per cent in the number of operations cancelled at short notice, she added.