ST HELENS and Knowsley Hospital Trust has revealed that an increasing number of operations are being postponed because of a sharp increase in emergencies which hard-pressed medical staff are having to cope with.

A statement released by the Trust shows that patients requiring hospital treatment are having operations postponed due to the rise in emergency surgery for people suffering with conditions such as chest complaints and asthma.

And the St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals Trust has said that it would like to apologise unreservedly to all people waiting for admission to hospital for treatment and who have been affected by the delays.

Although the number of beds has been increased by 50 since Christmas, this has done little to help the situation as the Trust says that there are still not enough beds or staff available on most days to allow all patients requiring 'non-urgent' surgery to be admitted to hospital.

But the Trust has stressed that the situation fluctuates daily, as does the number of emergencies, saying that on some days they are able to admit everyone that needs an operation and therefore try not to cancel operations until it is absolutely clear that there is no possibility of a bed becoming available.

A spokesperson for the St Helens and Knowsley Trust said: "In recent months the number of operations that are being cancelled each week has risen and last week as many as 25 operations were cancelled. Of course we are doing all we can to deal with the problem and we do not cancel operations before discussing the situation properly between staff members."

He added: "We are endeavouring to rectify this situation and we do ask members of the public who are waiting for operations to be as patient and understanding as possible. We are aware of the situation and we are dealing with it the best way we can. Hopefully this situation will be for as short a period as possible and we would ask you to bear with us during this difficult time. We do understand how inconvenient and distressing this can be."

And the Trust has asked those affected by the delays not to contact the Consultant Secretary directly, as rearrangements for admission will be made as soon as possible and patients will be contacted directly.