Nearly 30 operations were cancelled by Watford General Hospital in January because of bed shortages and a lack of staff.
In the first month of the year, there were 14 cases where an anaesthetist or consultant was unavailable to carry out the procedure, and a further 15 operations were postponed because a bed was not available.
The trust said pressures from the Accident and Emergency department played a part in their cancellations.
Jane Shentall, director of performance at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Cancelling procedures is not something we do lightly. During severe winter pressures we cancelled between one and two per cent of our planned procedures in December and January.
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“We recognise that although this figure is small, for each cancellation there is a person who is likely to be distressed and inconvenienced by not having their treatment as expected.
“We work hard to re-book appointments as soon as possible and manage to reschedule the vast majority of patients within 28 days.”
A total of 56 operations out of 3,335 were cancelled by the hospital in January, compared to 277 cancelled by patients in the same month.
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