To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients in (a) North East Hertfordshire and (b) West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust areas have had operations cancelled at short notice in the last 12 months. (105801)

The Department does not collect the number of operations cancelled at short notice. The Department collects the number of operations cancelled at the last minute for non-clinical reasons. A ‘last minute cancellation’ is a cancellation on the day patients were due to arrive, after the patient has arrived in hospital or on the day of their operation. Data are available on an NHS Trust rather than PCT basis.