Objective: To establish the rate of and reasons for cancellations of surgery on the scheduled day in an Australian hospital. Design: Prospective survey. Setting: Major metropolitan tertiary hospital, 13 May to 15 November 2002. Main outcome measures: Proportion of operations cancelled on the day of surgery, obtained each day from the operating theatre list and a separate list of additions and cancellations compiled on the day; reasons for cancellations from the cancellation list, extended or confirmed, as necessary, by questioning of bookings and ward staff, or members of the surgical team; estimated and actual duration of each operation and patient information from hospital clinical records. Results: 7913 theatre sessions were scheduled by 133 surgeons in the study period; 941 of these (11.9%) were cancelled on the day, including 724 of 5472 (13.2%) elective procedures on working weekdays. Main reasons for cancellation were: no theatre time due to over‐run of previous surgery (18.7%); no postoperative bed (18.1%); cancelled by patient (17.5%); and change in patient clinical status (17.1%). Procedural reasons (including patient not ready, no surgeon, list error, administrative cause, and communication failure) totalled 21.0%. Ear, nose and throat surgery experienced the most cancellations (19.6%), followed by cardiothoracic surgery (15.8%). Conclusions: There were five major reasons of similar magnitude for on‐the‐day surgery cancellations. We estimated that 60% of cancellations of elective procedures were potentially avoidable. Change of one factor leading to cancellation (eg, provision of more postoperative beds) is not likely to lead to improvement unless the other major factors are also tackled.

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ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to describe healthcare utilisation in the last year of life for people in Australia, to help inform health services planning. The methods and datasets that are being used are described in this paper.Design/SettingLinked, routinely collected administrative health data are being analysed for all people who died in New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state, in 2007. The data comprised linked death records (2007), hospital admissions and emergency department presentations (2006–2007) and cancer registrations (1994–2007).ParticipantsThere were 46 341 deaths in NSW in 2007. The initial analyses include 45 760 decedents aged 18 years and over.Outcome measuresThe primary measures address the utilisation of hospital-based services at the end of life, including number and length of hospital admissions, emergency department presentations, intensive care admissions, palliative-related admissions and place of death.ResultsThe median age at death was 80 years. Cause of death was available for 95% of decedents and 85% were linked to a hospital admission record. In the greater metropolitan area, where data capture was complete, 83% of decedents were linked to an emergency department presentation. 38% of decedents were linked to a cancer diagnosis in 1994–2007. The most common causes of death were diseases of the circulatory system (34%) and neoplasms (29%).ConclusionsThis study is among the first in Australia to give an information-rich census of end-of-life hospital-based experiences. While the administrative datasets have some limitations, these population-wide data can provide a foundation to enable further exploration of needs and barriers in relation to care. They also serve to inform the development of a relatively inexpensive, timely and reliable approach to the ongoing monitoring of acute hospital-based care utilisation near the end of life and inform whether service access and care are optimised.