A 14-year-old girl from Hackness, near Scarborough, has faced a significant delay for spinal surgery after her scheduled operation was cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice. Jessica, who suffers from scoliosis causing her spine to become s-shaped and painful, was first added to the NHS waiting list in August 2025.
Her mother, Rebecca, expressed distress at the cancellation, which occurred the afternoon before the planned 25 September surgery. The family had already travelled to Leeds and paid for accommodation. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) has since apologised and is working to reschedule her surgery for the end of January.
Jessica's experience comes as hospitals across North, South, and West Yorkshire face increasing pressures. Analysis of NHS data by the BBC shows that the total number of cases awaiting admission for surgery or procedures in these areas rose by approximately a third since 2021. In August 2026, over 63,000 cases were awaiting treatment across 11 surgical specialties, compared to almost 48,000 in August 2021.
More than half of these cases had waited longer than the 18 weeks patients are expected to wait from their initial referral. While the proportion of cases waiting over 18 weeks has fallen from 60% in August 2023 to 55% in August 2026, over 2,800 cases were still waiting longer than 52 weeks in August 2026.
Tim Hiles, chief operating officer at LTHT, stated that the trust receives referrals from across Yorkshire and Humber for specialist surgery and prioritises urgent cases. He added that the decision to cancel surgery is made only when absolutely necessary.