Abstract Introduction Subtotal-cholecystectomy (STC) is a rescue procedure in dealing with difficult gallbladders undertaken when a critical view of safety is not possible to allow complete cholecystectomy, thereby avoiding complications. Aim Determine what patient factors increase risk of STC in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) and therefore aid prediction in patients reduced suitability for day surgery. Method Data was collected between 01/01/2022 and 31/07/2023 from three hospitals throughout the Aneurin-Bevan University Health-Board, Wales, UK. All patients receiving elective LC had data collected on age, BMI, gender, ERCP preceding operation, surgical duration, length of stay and 30-day complications, amongst others. Results Of a total of 1060 patients were included in this study(77.36%female, 22.64%male), 81 where STC (7.64% of total LC; 56.8%female, 43.2%male). There were three 30-day mortalities, one of whom underwent STC(p= 0.09). The overall complication rate was 6.41%, significantly raised in the STC group(13.58%vs5.82%;p=0.007). As expected, there was a significant increase in bile-leak following subtotal(12.35%vs1.12%; p=0.0001) , however, there was no increase significance for bleed (0%vs0.41%;p=0.5644), wound infection(0%vs3.68%;p=0.079), collection(0.09%vs0.51%;p=0.404) or bile duct injury(0%vs1.02%; p=0.0001). Predictors for STC were higher age(70-79years;p=0.0016), male gender(p=0.0001), and ERCP preceding surgery(p=0.0001). Both length of stay(median 1vs 0days;p=0.0001) and length of procedure (median 122vs 76minutes;p=0.0001) were increased following STC. High BMI, diabetes(p=0.1991) and smoking(p=0.7921) had no association. Conclusions Subtotal cholecystectomy is a safe alternative when facing difficult cholecystectomy where critical view of safety is not achievable. Factors predicting STC were male gender, advanced age and prior ERCP.