The board of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust confirmed the news at a meeting on Tuesday. No further details about the staff members were released.

The trust stressed that the suspensions were a "neutral act" to allow investigations to continue.

The waiting list investigation followed an admission that figures were changed.

Poor service

The trust admitted that a "suspended waiting list" for elective orthopaedic surgery patients had been created at Lincoln County Hospital for those who were having to wait more than the government target of six months.

As a result, the trust's interim chief executive, Helen Scott-Smith, was suspended in August - also as a "neutral act" - to allow the investigation to proceed.

Eric Morton, the trust's interim chief executive, said: "Frankly we have not provided a service that the people of Lincolnshire are entitled to."

A new chief executive, Gary Walker, has been appointed and will take up his position in two weeks.

At the meeting, bosses also stressed that steps had already been put in place to stop waiting list changes from happening again and the investigation was limited to the elective orthopaedic surgery waiting list only.