Surgery statistics

3 million operations per year One in 10 operations cancelled 78,000 operations cancelled last year 18% of operations cancelled at some trusts �8.5m government scheme to tackle problem

The report comes one day after Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith suggested extra government money for the NHS was being spent on bureaucracy. He said there were now more managers than beds in the health service.

Figures published earlier this year showed that 77,818 operations were cancelled by trusts in England last year - up 29% on the previous year.

Ministers announced an �8.5m scheme to tackle the problem by sending trouble-shooters into hospitals with the highest cancellation rates.

But the Audit Commission report suggests that simple changes would enable doctors to perform more operations.

It found many trusts have little information on how theatre resources are used. Similarly, few had systems for measuring the performance of operating theatres.

Lack of information

The report suggested that gathering this data and introducing new checks would help managers to identify how they could improve surgery rates.

The report cited an example of one trust where session cancellations in some specialities were as high as 30%. After closer examination, managers discovered other specialities were over-running their allotted time in theatre.

By reallocating theatre sessions between these two specialities they were able to boost the number of operations being carried out considerably.

Sir Andrew Foster, Audit Commission controller, said he hoped the report would encourage trusts to tackle the problem.

"Many operating theatres are well run. But there are common weaknesses that must be addressed to improve the experience of patients and their families."

This shows that simple efficiency gains would result in many more operations going ahead

Sir Andrew Foster, Audit Commission

He added: "This should be a stimulus to share good practice and raise performance across the board."

Alan Meekings, chief executive of District Audit which carried out the study on behalf of the Audit Commission, said: "Well-run operating theatres are critical to the smooth running of hospitals overall.

"The NHS Plan has major implications for operating theatres, but to have the positive impact intended high quality information is needed at all trusts - not just some."

Problem recognised

NHS chief executive Nigel Crisp told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the problem was already being tackled.

"The problems in operating theatres were recognised by us as a problem a year ago which is why we set up a major project to deal with this.

"We published our own report in December which provided a lot of information about how to deal with this and we set up a programme for working with people with the biggest problems."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health added: "A cancelled theatre session is not the same as a cancelled operation.

"While the Audit Commission found that on average 10% of theatre sessions are cancelled, latest figures show that only 0.85% of all operations are cancelled."

But she added: "In the long term the huge extra investment in the NHS will be based on payment-by-results, so that poorly performing hospitals have a real incentive to improve their performance."

But shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "I think those of us who have worked in the NHS and have seen this first hand will not be particularly surprised by this finding that there is a lack of co-ordination between what all the different types of staff are doing."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Dr Evan Harris said: "The Audit Commission has highlighted serious inefficiencies in the organisation of operating theatres."