In early 2002 the Department of Health requested that the Audit Commission carry out spot checks on the accuracy of waiting list information at a sample of NHS trusts. Between June and November 2002, auditors undertook these checks, which looked at both inpatient and outpatient waiting lists, as part of the Audit Commission's wider programme of investigations into the quality of patient-based information in the NHS. Because of the importance of this issue to the public, the NHS and the Government, we are publishing this separate report on the waiting list spot checks in advance of our main national report on data quality. This is so the lessons from this work are learned and improvements made as soon as possible.
Summaries of auditors' judgements at each trust checked are included in this report. Each trust will have an individual report setting out auditors' findings and any recommendations for improvement. Trusts will be developing local action plans to address any issues raised and their implementation will be monitored by auditors.
This report explains:
- why it is important for waiting list information to be accurate if services are to improve
- how the checks were carried out and what they looked at
- what our findings show and how this affects patients
- what the NHS should do in order to improve this aspect of the service
- what action the Department of Health should consider to help trusts improve waiting list accuracy
The report explains the types of problem found by the checks but also highlights examples of good practice to illustrate how improvements might be made.