Two trusts cancelled urgent operations at least twice for more than 20 patients, official statistics show.
HSJ analysis of NHS England data has found that Countess of Chester Hospital Foundation Trust and North Bristol Trust were forced to cancel urgent procedures 37 and 21 times respectively in 2015-16.
There were 3,716 urgent operations cancelled in 2015-16
The data for last year shows East Sussex Healthcare Trust cancelled urgent operations twice or more 13 times, but the trust said it submitted incorrect data to NHS England and this actually only happened six times.
The total number of urgent operations cancelled in 2015-16 was 3,716, up from 3,559 in 2014-15 and 3,055 in 2013-14.
The figures show 134 multiple cancellations of urgent operations in 2015-16, with more than half of them at East Sussex, Countess of Chester and North Bristol.
Full article at HSJ 11 May 2016.