Trust accused over waiting lists

Professor Stuart Stanton blames government targets

A senior doctor at a major London hospital has accused NHS managers of fiddling waiting lists.

Professor Stuart Stanton claims managers at St George's Hospital in Tooting cancel operations and then try to cover up the number of patients affected.

This is not the first time the trust has been accused of manipulating its waiting list figures.

An employment tribunal is currently examining claims from the trust's former finance director that he was sacked after blowing the whistle on waiting list fiddles.

Government targets

Professor Stanton said managers have cancelled operations several days before they were scheduled to go ahead.

He said this was aimed at ensuring no patients were sent home from hospital on the day they were due to have surgery.

I would have been much more concerned about speaking out if I was not retiring

Professor Stuart Stanton

The Department of Health has ordered hospitals to cut the number of operations called off at the last minute.

In line with this policy, they are required to record the number of operations cancelled on the day they were due to take place.

But hospitals can get around this rule by cancelling operations days in advance, although ministers have said that this practice is unacceptable.

However, Dr Stanton said it was going on in St George's.

"I have been aware that this has been going on for four or five months," he told BBC News Online.

"Operations were being cancelled and pre-cancelled patients were not being prioritised for surgery."

Professor Stanton blamed Department of Health pressure on hospitals to achieve targets for the problem.

"Managers are simply trying to meet these targets," he said.

Professor Stanton, a consultant gynaecologist, said he only felt able to speak out because he was planning to retire within the next year.

"People don't speak out because they are afraid to," he said. "I would have been much more concerned about speaking out if I was not retiring."

Whistleblowers

Ministers have repeatedly stated that so-called whistleblowers should not face any repercussions in their job.

But Professor Stanton said: "This is not happening. The government needs to make clear how people can speak out without fear of retribution."

In a statement, St George's NHS Trust denied trying to cover up the number of cancelled operations.

"The trust sends the number of all cancelled operations - including those postponed prior to the day of the operation - to the Department of Health."

It added that all patients who have operations cancelled days before they are due to go ahead are now prioritised.

"From 1 April this year, the trust policy has been to treat all patients, be they cancelled on the same day or postponed prior to the operation date, as priority two patients."

"Priority two" patients are expected to be treated within four weeks.

The trust said 4,000 operations had been postponed or rescheduled over the past year. However, officials said these were mostly due to the patient not being fit enough for surgery.

It said 300 patients had their operation cancelled because of bed or staff shortages.

The Conservative Party said Professor Stanton's comments were "a damning indictment of how Labour runs the NHS".

Shadow Health Secretary Dr Liam Fox added: "Clinicians should be free to decide who to treat, and when to treat them.

"Labour ministers frequently force doctors to ignore clinical priorities, and work instead according to their political priorities. This is unethical and unacceptable."

He said the Conservatives would scrap government targets for the NHS if elected.