Reason for Cancellation

Change History
DSCN 2024 / 08	Reason for Cancellation (Outpatients)
DSCN 2020 / 27	Outpatient Activity (Virtual Clinics) – Phase Two
DSCN 2019 / 10	Outpatient Hospital Initiated Cancellation Reason Codes
DDCN 2014 / 05	Cancelled Admitted Procedures (Postponed Admitted Procedures) Data Set
DSCN 2013 / 03	Cancelled Admitted Procedures Data Set

This data item is / was included in the following data sets / collections between the dates shown:

Data Set / Collection	Valid From	Valid To
PAP ds	1^st April 2013
OP ds	1^st January 2020

For Postponed Admitted Procedures data set:

The reason for cancellation of an intended procedure.

Format: 3 digit numeric

Value	Meaning	Description	Valid From	Valid To
Cancellation - Clinical
101	Pre-existing Medical condition	The patient has a pre-existing medical condition, such as high blood pressure and the clinician has indicated that it needs to be resolved before the procedure can take place.	1^st April 2013
102	Unfit with Acute Illness	The clinician has decided that a patient is unfit due to a newly presented acute illness.	1^st April 2013
103	Procedure No Longer Necessary	The clinician has decided that the procedure is no longer necessary. For example, this could be due to the condition resolving itself.	1^st April 2013
104	Unsuitable for Day Case Procedure	The patient was originally listed to have their procedure as a day case. However, the clinician has decided that they need to be treated as an inpatient.	1^st April 2013
105	Other – Clinical	All other clinical cancellation reasons.	1^st April 2013
Cancellation – Non Clinical
201	Intensive Care Unit / High Dependency Unit Beds Unavailable	No Intensive Care Unit /High Dependency Unit beds are available for patient recovery	1^st April 2013
202	Ward Beds Unavailable	No ward beds are available for the patient admission.	1^st April 2013
203	Emergency Admission	An emergency admission takes priority over the patient’s elective procedure.	1^st April 2013
204	List Overrun	The previous procedure(s) takes longer than originally planned, meaning the procedure is cancelled due to insufficient session time.	1^st April 2013
205	Clinical Staff Unavailable	A key member of clinical staff is unavailable.	1^st April 2013
206	Equipment Unavailable	A key piece of equipment is unavailable.	1^st April 2013
207	Administrative Error	An administrative error has occurred. For example, the patient has received the wrong date / time for their admission.	1^st April 2013
208	Other – Non Clinical	All other non clinical cancellation reasons. For example, cancellations due to inclement weather.	1^st April 2013
Patient Cancellation
301	Pre-op Guidance Not Followed	Patient has not followed guidance given at pre-operative assessment.	1^st April 2013
302	Appointment Inconvenient	The patient had a planned admission date but has notified the Local Health Board that it is inconvenient.	1^st April 2013
303	Unfit for procedure	The patient declares themselves unfit for their procedure.	1^st April 2013
304	Procedure Not Wanted	The patient decides they no longer want the procedure.	1^st April 2013
305	Did Not Attend	The patient has not attended	1^st April 2013
306	Other – Patient	All other patient cancellation reasons.	1^st April 2013

For Outpatient data set:

The primary reason why an outpatient appointment was cancelled.

Format: 3 digit numeric

Code	Description	Definition	Valid From	Valid To
151	Administrative error	Appointment booked in error and therefore cancelled to remove the erroneous record. Includes additional appointments booked due to duplicate referrals.	1st January 2020
152	Adverse weather	Appointment cancelled due to adverse weather conditions affecting the clinician’s ability to attend the clinic appointment. (Patient’s inability to attend would be categorised as CNA). Will also include damage to property where the appointment is taking place, affecting safety. To include issues with Non-emergency Patient Transport (NEPTS) non-collection due to weather.	1st January 2020
153	Appointment already taken place	The appointment is no longer necessary as the patient has already been seen. E.g. seen by other HB, privately etc	1st January 2020
154	Appointment brought forward	The appointment has been cancelled and rebooked.	1st January 2020
155	Awaiting diagnostics	Appointment cancelled due to essential test results not being available impacting on the ability to hold a meaningful consultation. Will also include instances where the case is yet to be reviewed via MDT etc.	1st January 2020
156	Change to clinic template	Changes to a template requiring cancellation of an appointment. These include clinic redesign with associated changes to the New to Follow up ratio or change to the location of the clinic. Will also include cancellations resulting from changes to job plans.	1st January 2020
157	Clinic validation	Appointment cancelled following direct instruction from the clinician. To include changes to original clinic plan following clinical reassessment.	1st January 2020
158	Clinician unavailable - annual leave / study leave / planned leave	Clinician assigned to undertake the appointment unavailable due to annual leave, study leave including mandatory training or requirement to attend examination, planned or professional leave, etc.	1st January 2020
159	Clinician unavailable - meeting	Clinician assigned to undertake the appointment unavailable due to a meeting or audit.	1st January 2020
160	Clinician unavailable - on call	Clinician assigned to undertake the appointment unavailable due to on call commitments or post take ward round commitments.	1st January 2020
161	Clinician unavailable - sickness / special leave	Clinician assigned to undertake the appointment unavailable due to sickness absence, special leave, bereavement leave, requirement to attend court, Jury Service, paternity leave, etc.	1st January 2020
162	Current inpatient	The patient is unable to attend the appointment due to being an inpatient either at the same or another hospital.	1st January 2020
163†	Equipment failure	Appointment cancelled due to the failure of essential equipment. Will also include general power failure and or connectivity issues.	1st January 2020
164	List overbooked	Over-filled clinic reduced to maintain safe clinic numbers proportionate to the number of clinicians available. An over-filled may be due to extra patients being booked without appropriate authorisation.	1st January 2020
165	Clinic overrun	The patient attended but the appointment was cancelled due to a significant overrun in the clinic. This excludes patient cancellation e.g. where the appointment is not cancelled but the patient is unable to wait	1st January 2020
166	No notes available	Cancellation of appointment due to lack of vital information with which to conduct a safe consultation due to patient notes not being available for the clinic.	01st January 2020
167	Industrial action	Cancellation of appointment due to lack of essential staffing numbers because of industrial action.	01st January 2020
168	Operational workforce issues – other reason	Cancellation of appointment due to lack of essential staffing numbers. Reasons to include clinician covering for annual / study leave, clinician leaving with unfilled vacant posts or a lack of junior doctors.	01st January 2020
169	Short notice due to emergency / trauma – clinic cancelled	Clinic cancelled at short notice due to unforeseen emergency such as trauma or major incident.	01st January 2020
170	Short notice due to higher priority patients	Appointment cancelled at short notice due to service need prioritisation of more urgent or complex cases. Includes cancellation to ensure coverage of essential services i.e. USC, wards and theatre.	01st January 2020
171	Pre-existing medical condition	The patient has a pre-existing medical condition, such as high blood pressure and the clinician has indicated that it needs to be resolved before the procedure can take place.	01^st April 2024
172	Unfit with acute illness	The clinician has decided that a patient is unfit due to a newly presented acute illness.	01^st April 2024
173	Infectious disease	To record cancellations related to Infectious diseases such as COVID. This information could them be cross-referenced with data item ‘Attend or Did Not Attend’ to identify if this was cancelled by the patient or hospital.	01^st April 2024
198	Hospital initiated cancellation – reason unknown	Cancellation initiated by the hospital for unspecified or unknown reason.	01st January 2020	31st March 2024
199	N/A – Not a hospital cancellation¹	For use in all cases where the appointment cancellation is not initiated by the hospital, or where the appointment is attended or DNAd by the patient. This code is not intended for selection in operational systems but is included for reporting purposes.	01st January 2020

† If a virtual consultation is unable to be completed due to a technical fault this is to be recorded as value 163 Equipment failure. For further information please refer to the guidance document.

¹ - Use value 199 for all completed appointments or cancellations not initiated by the hospital.