Cancelled planned operations
Month ending 31 January 2026

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides a monthly update on the number of operations in NHS Scotland that were cancelled the day before or on the day of treatment. Cancellation reasons are grouped into cancelled by the hospital for clinical reasons, cancelled by the patient, cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, cancelled for other reasons and cancelled for unknown reason. For further information on these definitions, please see the Metadata document

Main points

During January 2026:

• There were 25,766 operations planned to take place across NHS Scotland. This is 7.7% higher (+1,835) than the number planned in January 2025 (23,931). Over the course of the last 12 months, from February 2025 to January 2026 (302,449), there was a 6.1% increase (+17,490) compared to the previous 12 months (284,959). This reflects the post-Covid pandemic trend of generally increasing planned operations, although numbers are yet to reach those typical of the pre-pandemic period.  
• In NHS Scotland, 10.6% (2,724) of planned operations were cancelled the day before or on the day the patient was due to be treated. This is a higher rate (+0.7 percentage points) than a year previously in January 2025 (9.9%; 2,369), and January 2020 (9.5%; 2,718). Across NHS boards, the percentage ranged from 6.1% to 18.4% in the most recent month.
• Of all planned operations during January 2026 in NHS Scotland, 812 (3.2%) were cancelled the day before or on the day of treatment by the hospital for clinical reasons, 922 (3.6%) by the patient, 832 (3.2%) by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 158 (0.6%) for other reasons.

A trend chart showing NHS Scotland level data for total planned operations and percentage of cancelled planned operations, by reason, from January 2023 up to January 2026. The blue line represents the total number of planned operations in each month across the time period. The dotted black line at the top of the graph since January 2023 shows the 12-monthly rolling average of all planned operations. The second dotted line below shows the 12 month rolling average for cancelled operations by percentage. Each of the coloured bars represent the percentage of total planned operations cancelled for each reason: the lowest bar denotes those cancelled for clinical reasons; the next highest is those cancelled for non clinical/capacity reasons; the next highest is those cancelled by patient; the next highest percentage on the graph is operations cancelled for other reasons, and finally, the highest is for cancellations for unknown reasons. The monthly figures over the time period have fluctuated for various reasons including seasonality and the number of working days in a month affecting number of planned operations and cancellation reasons. However, the 12-monthly rolling average for total number of planned operations has continued to increase, despite a plateau between April 2024 and April 2025.

Close

NHS Scotland total planned operations and percentage of cancelled planned operations by reason to January 2026

Please note that fluctuation in the trend of planned operations is affected by variation in the number of working days per month, i.e. weekdays excluding public holidays, as theatre utilisation tends to be lower at weekends and on public holidays. In this instance, the typically higher levels of cancellations in the month of January are reflected in the statistics above and are in part due to seasonal weather patterns affecting services.

Background

These statistics are released monthly. Data for this publication are submitted from NHS board theatre systems. Further information on the reasons for cancellation can be found on the Cancelled Planned Operations section of our website.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 7 April 2026.

PHS is currently undertaking a review of the statistical publications we produce. All planned care waiting times outputs are being reviewed and this may lead to a change in the content, layout and frequency of future publications. Any substantial changes will be announced ahead of implementation. For more information, please contact us at phs.waitingtimes@phs.scot