Nearly 25,000 NHS Scotland operations have been cancelled at the last minute over the last year, figures reveal, with at least a quarter due to hospital capacity and staffing issues.

Public Health Scotland figures show that from March 2023 to February 2024, 24,802 of the 280,298 planned operations in Scotland were cancelled on the day of the surgery, or the day before.

This is equivalent to 8.8 per cent, meaning one in 12 Scots awaiting surgery have had their procedure postponed with short notice.

The figures vary over the year, however, with ten per cent of all planned operations in January of this year cancelled.

The reasons for cancellation also vary, including capacity issues, clinical decisions and patient cancellation. The Scottish Government said that in February 2024 – the latest figures available – 513 of the 2113 cancellations were due to hospital capacity and staffing.