The heavy downfall of snow in February and breakdowns of a mobile catheterisation laboratory have been blamed for an increase in last minute cancellations of operations at Kingston Hospital.
Kingston Hospital cancelled 280 operations at the last minute during 2008-09, an increase from 190 the year before.
More than 120 of the cancellations fell between January and March.
Last April, a Surbiton cancer patient branded the management at Kingston Hospital a disgrace after being given just 50 minutes notice that her vital private operation would be cancelled after a key surgeon was rendered unavailable.
A hospital spokesman said: “The trust recognises that any cancelled operation, especially at short notice, involves considerable inconvenience for our patients and we continue to work hard to minimise cancellations.
“An escalation policy exists, up to executive level, for all cancellations to ensure that everything possible has been done to prevent the cancellation.”
The hospital said equipment on a mobile catheterisation laboratory, which visited once a week, had caused a significant number of cancellations but that the trust was looking to replace it with a permanent facility.
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