- FoI Number
- 2023-492
- Subject
- Cancelled Diagnostic Tests
- Date Received
- 14/11/2023
- Request and Response
-
I am aware that Public Health Scotland publishes a monthly report on cancelled operations, but I have been informed that this does not include diagnostic tests, and that I should contact health boards. As such, I would like to request the following, broken down by the financial years 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 (most recent):
upper endoscopy, lower endoscopy (excl. colonoscopy), colonoscopy, cystoscopy, CT scan, MRI scan, barium studies and non-obstetric ultrasound
- The total number of scheduled eight key diagnostic tests, broken down by test, that have been cancelled based on capacity or non-clinical reason.
- The total number of scheduled eight key diagnostic tests, broken down by test, that have been cancelled due to faulty equipment.
- The total number of scheduled eight key diagnostic tests, broken down by test, that have been cancelled due to a lack of staff.
NHS Shetland do not record cancellation reasons using precisely these terms, see table below for breakdown of cancellations by reason.
Colonoscopy
Year
99 - Not Recorded
Anaesthetist cancel-Patient not prepared
Hosp. cancelled -Administrative error
Hosp. cancelled-Other
Management cancelled-Equip not available
Other reason for cancellation
Secretarial error
2018-19
<5
2019-20
<5
2020-21
<5
<5
2021-22
<5
2022-23
<5
<5
<5
2023-24
<5
Upper Endoscopy
Year
Hosp. cancelled-Other
Management cancelled -Other
Other reason for cancellation
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
<5
<5
2021-22
<5
2022-23
<5
<5
2023-24
Cystoscopy
Year
Hosp. cancelled -Administrative error
Hosp. cancelled-Other
Not Known
Other reason for cancellation
Secretarial error
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
24
<5
2021-22
<5
2022-23
<5
<5
2023-24
<5
Lower Endoscopy (excl. colonoscopy)
Row Labels
Hosp. cancelled-Other
Other reason for cancellation
2018-19
2019-20
<5
2020-21
<5
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
Barium studies
NHS Shetland does not perform Barium studies.
For answers where we have given <5, NHS Shetland considers that to providing specific detail carries a high risk of identifying individuals As such and in accordance with FOISA s 16(1), NHS Shetland confirms that it holds the information requested but that it is exempt from disclosure under FOISA s 38(1)(b) as read with s 38 (2A) as the information constitutes personal data and disclosure would breach the confidentiality of the data subjects.
Other tests
With regards to CT scans, MRI scans, and non-obstetric ultrasounds the cancelation type of “Hospital Cancelled” would be recorded against these however “Hospital Cancelled” is also used for other cancellation reasons for example patient too unwell to come from the ward or patient passed away. The full cancelation reason is only recorded within the individual patient’s log as un-coded information. Therefore, this can only be accessed by manually reading through each patient’s record. There were 868 “Hospital Cancelled” patients over this time period.
Under FOISA s 12(1), NHS Shetland is not obliged to comply with a request if the estimated cost of doing so exceeds £600. Having reviewed your request, NHS Shetland has determined that the cost of compliance would exceed £600 and so is unable to provide the information requested; we have provided a breakdown of the estimated costs below:
As outlined above, to respond regarding the 3 medical imaging diagnostic tests would require manually going into and reading through 868 patient records. We estimate this process to take an average of 5 minutes per record. This would therefore take 868*5 = 4340 minutes or in hours 72.3
Staff costs are capped at £15.00 per hour so the cost of responding to this would be 15*72.3=£1085, therefore exceeding £600.
