iarjaccIARJACCIARJACC2709-1880https://doi.org/10.47310/iarjacc.2020.v01i01.004Effect of Cancellation of Elective Operation on PatientNicholasAnarfiSanjeevSinghEmmanuelNakuaBackground: Surgical operations constitute a significant aspect of treatment administered in hospitals. The situations where patients’ surgical appointments are cancelled are an unfortunate occurrence within medical practice. The main objective of this study was to survey cancellation rate, reasons, and its psychological effect on patients at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Ghana. Methods: A prospective, descriptive cross-sectional study involving a self-administered questionnaire conducted at KATH over a period of three months from May 2018 to July 2018. The purposive sampling (total population) technique was used for patient recruitment. Results:  During the study, 1078 elective surgical operations were booked and 74.2% elective operations were performed over the study period. 278 cases were cancelled representing 25.78%. The study found the lowest rate of 3% for cardio-thoracic and the highest (28.1%) for trauma orthopaedics. Medical /work-up, patient-related, administrative-related, and others accounted for 16.3, 54.1, 30.7 and 18.9% of the cancelled surgeries respectively. The most common patient-related reason for the cancellation was patients not turning up (40.7%). The majority of the patients expressed their feeling of disappointment (46.7%). The women in the cancellation group had a significantly higher degree of anxiety and depression as per the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) Scale.  Conclusions: The patients reacted negatively to the cancellation of scheduled elective surgery. It has long term emotional effects on patients as anxiety and depression even after hospital discharge. Patients who visited a preadmission clinic experienced less anxiety and depression.