Have you come across people who've decided to pull out of surgery because of their anxiety?

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Yeah, I mean, and this is a particular issue at the moment because we have such a long waiting list. We hate cancellations because that can... If a cancellation takes place, someone else could have been operated on in that slot.

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We do sometimes get patients, interestingly, who turn up for surgery on the day and then say, "I don't want it," or will wait for a couple hours and then leave. Now, it's very difficult to tease out why this has happened, but I do sometimes wonder, well, perhaps it's related to the anxiety that they're leaving. You know, not all the time, but I think that it could be a factor in some of these on-the-day cancellations.