Press release: NHS Confederation responds to Audit Commission report on spot checks
05 Mar 2003
In response to today's publication of an Audit Commission report on the accuracy of NHS waiting lists, Dr Gill Morgan, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation said:
"Any evidence of trusts manipulating waiting list figures is clearly unacceptable, and a breach of the new code of conduct for NHS managers. However, this report selected 41 hospitals where problems were most likely to occur, and only found evidence of deliberate misreporting at three of them. We must not condemn NHS management on the basis of the actions of a small minority of trusts."
Dr Morgan continued: "Much more important is the report's evidence of errors and weaknesses in waiting list systems. We believe the Audit Commission's diagnosis of the problem is right - with under-valued junior staff all too often struggling with poor guidance and a legacy of years of underinvestment in information systems."
"There now needs to be a recognition that investment in high quality management and administrative systems is an investment in patient care. This is now happening with £2.3 billion being ploughed into NHS information systems over the next three years."
"The dramatic improvement in the management of breast cancer referrals shows that where investment has happened, it is delivering results. And let's not forget that the NHS is also making a historic shift away from the traditional approach to waiting lists to a system of booked admissions for all patients by 2005. This will make many of these problems a thing of the past."
In response to the Audit Commissions recommendations, Dr Morgan commented: "We agree with the Audit Commissions recommendations for local action and welcome the call for clearer guidance from the Department of Health to ensure consistency across the service."
ENDS
Notes for editors
- The NHS Confederation represents the organisations that make up the NHS. Our members include the majority of NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities in England; trusts, health authorities and local health groups in Wales; trusts and NHS boards in Scotland; and health and social services trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.
Contact details
- Contact Media Relations Manager Joanna Clason on 020 7074 3306 or 07798 571078 or Senior Media Officer Amy Darlington on 020 7074 3304 or 07767 770309. For out of hours media enquiries, please call the Duty Press Officer on 07880 500726.
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