Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the National Audit Office report on elective waiting times, said:

“This report calls into serious question Government claims about NHS waiting times and its handling of the NHS. It is clear that the public has been misled. The Prime Minister has repeatedly claimed that waiting times are stable, when it now appears that patients were waiting longer.

“David Cameron has repeatedly used waiting times figures to justify his reorganisation of the NHS. It is now clear those claims were questionable and he urgently needs to correct the record. While he was desperately trying to spin a good story, patients across England were waiting longer than Cameron ever admitted.

“These revelations will raise further questions of trust in the Government’s collection and use of statistics. Ministers must urgently explain whether they knew about these irregularities and, if they did, what action was taken to address them. If they did not know, why did they not have a better grip on the quality of statistics?

“Cameron’s Government has record of misuse of official statistics and these revelations will further erode public trust. It was only a year ago that David Cameron was told to stop claiming NHS spending had increased, when it had in fact been cut. Cameron has a growing credibility problem on the NHS and, unless he provides urgent answers to the questions, people will conclude that what he says on the NHS simply can’t be trusted.

“Ministers now need to offer a full explanation as to why these waiting times irregularities were not picked up sooner. Otherwise people will simply conclude that you just can’t trust the Tories with the NHS.”