Hundreds of operations have been cancelled and patients are being sent to private hospitals because of an ‘unprecedented’ demand on a trust’s emergency services.

Since Christmas, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) has cancelled 11% of its planned surgeries forcing about 400 people to either wait to be given a new date for an appointment or seek treatment at another trust.

The majority of the elective procedures fall within gynaecology, orthopaedics and ear, nose and throat with three-quarters due to take place in Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury.

The disappointing news was presented to MTW’s governing board, which praised hard work of frontline doctors and nurses who have kept A&E and other emergency services ticking over.

"At this time, we are also experiencing issues with delayed transfers of care, where patients are ready to leave hospital but are waiting for arrangements to be made within the community for their ongoing care needs"

It was noted despite everything, the trust continues to comply with the 18-week referral to treatment standard.

Chief executive Glenn Douglas added: “We have cancelled a lot of elective work since January and every one of those is a story in itself. We don’t do it lightly, but we have to ensure emergency care is uninterrupted.”

According to the latest data, MTW’s A&E department has had 370 people attending each day, 7.6% higher than expected, while cases of so-called bed-blocking remain high.

Patients whose operations were cancelled have been reviewed and those who opt to wait at the trust are being offered new dates as soon as possible. Patients who can be treated at another hospital are referred directly and seen by their specialists.

A spokesman for MTW said: “We apologise to those patients who have had their procedure cancelled during this time and for any inconvenience that this may have caused. Our primary concern, as always, is to keep patients safe.

“At this time, we are also experiencing issues with delayed transfers of care, where patients are ready to leave hospital but are waiting for arrangements to be made within the community for their ongoing care needs. We are working closely with our partners to try and find solutions to ease this problem.”

A new ward with 38 beds will open at Tunbridge Wells Hospital is due to open this month.

Dr Michael Heber, partner at Cobtree Medical Practice in Sutton Valence said: “Cancellation of elective procedures is something that happens all the time, and is of course a huge nuisance for patients who have often arranged time off work or carers for example.

“I understand there have recently been more cancellations due to a surge in non-elective activity in the trust, which is of course difficult for them to manage.

“So the straight answer is yes, it has affected several of our patients, but not the practice directly, and it is a historical as well as current problem.”

From a financial perspective, each procedure lost to other trusts costs MTW a valuable source of income.

Simply put, acute trusts like MTW spend money on emergency care and other government-mandated services while making money on each elective procedure.

This money can be spent on running costs including anything from staff to new equipment and facilities.

Latest figures show MTW has a net deficit of £21.97 million against a planned deficit of £12.09m.

Major overspends on nursing in the year to date are £5.6m on nursing and £400,000 on locums, January MTW's agency nursing spend was almost £300k above the target of £520,000 for that month.

The trust is trying to fill more than 70 vacancies, including 11 senior consultant positions.

Last Wednesday, February 24, the board heard some departments were now refusing to use locums to ensure good patient care.