FOI/202600513082 · FOI · unclear
Potential impact of World Cup bank holiday on NHS services: FOI release
Information requested
I would be grateful if you could provide the content of all assessments regarding the impact on NHS services of the decision to declare a World Cup bank holiday on June 15. Please include any available projections for the impact on the number of inpatient / outpatient / day case appointments that day and any other NHS activity measurements that are available.
Response
Due to the nature of planned care activity, it is not possible to precisely quantify the impact of bank holiday days on activity. This is due to many factors some of which have been listed below:
Activity is not consistent across the year so the time of year the bank holiday takes place will change the impact of a bank holiday. As such there is no average activity for each time of year as every week is different. Activity is also impacted by many factors we do not measure such as weather, local conditions and unavailability of resources e.g. theatres closed for maintenance, mobile scanners. Not all bank holidays are taken equally across Scotland. Previous or subsequent bank holidays close together will affect the impact. e.g. Easter, the King’s coronation. Impact can be seen across more than one week, but it is not possible to know how much of this is the bank holiday or other factors. Additional funding impacts activity outside of normal working hours which will change the impact of a bank holiday day.
For illustrative purposes, the below is a table showing the range of reductions seen for each activity type during the Early May Bank Holiday week across 2023, 2024 and 2025, noting that impacts seem to variable depending on the activity type (e.g. NOP vs Endoscopy). These figures are an estimate and should only be used as a range to indicate the potential impact this bank holiday day may have on activity.
Type Upper range percentage difference Lower range percentage difference NOP -19% -16% TTG -18% -11% Endoscopy -17% -6% Radiology -22% -14%
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Attachments
No attachments found.