What is happening with waiting list figures?

Spot checks carried out at 41 hospitals by independent watchdog the Audit Commission found errors at 53% of trusts.

At three trusts - East and North Hertfordshire, South Manchester University Hospitals and Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS trusts - it was found the figures had been deliberately manipulated.

The South Manchester, which includes Wythenshawe Hospital, is to have its one-star rating removed because of the findings, making it a no-star hospital.

In all three, action has been taken to investigate and deal with the problems. Some staff have been suspended.

At 19 others, errors in the way waiting list figures were reported were also found.

How did those three trusts manipulate the figures?

At the South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust, it was found patients were simply excluded from the list if they had been waiting for too long.

Others were reclassified so they were on different lists which were not monitored as part of waiting list figures.

A new management team is in place at the trust, but its rating has been downgraded from a one to a no-star trust.

At East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, it was found patients were offered appointments at short notice, then put to the back of the queue if they could not attend.

Three individual cases were identified there, an external investigation is underway to see if the problem is more widespread.

One manager has been suspended.

At Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, it was found there had been deliberate misreporting of figures.

Three staff have been suspended while an investigation takes place.

Haven't similar problems been identified before?

Yes. A National Audit Office report 18 months ago found some hospitals had "fiddled" their waiting list figures.

That led the NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp to announce a "zero tolerance" policy on managers who manipulated lists.

Spot checks of all trusts - of which this is the first wave - were also announced.

Would patients' conditions have been made by the situation?

The Audit Commission says it is unlikely individual patients would have been affected by the problems.

But it does say practices like putting patients to the bottom of the list if they cannot attend at short notice would not be considered "reasonable" by patients.

Why were the figures fiddled?

In many cases, problems were due to poor training of staff or computer problems.

These will be tackled, the Department of Health has said.

But in a minority of cases - three out of 41 - auditors found hospitals had deliberately manipulated figures.

What will be different after this report?

Peter Wilkinson of the Audit Commission said: "It's a substantial deterrent to anyone when they see the action taken in relation to these three trusts."

So can we trust government pronouncements on meeting waiting list targets?

Sir Nigel Crisp ordered the spot checks "to ensure the public can be confident with our waiting times data".

Following the Audit Commission's report, all NHS trusts will be asked to examine how they record waiting times by the end of June.