Government is accused of manipulating figures on NHS winter pressures

A row has erupted over the monitoring of the NHS during the winter months after key figures on waiting times were dropped from weekly updates.

NHS England maintains that the changes to winter performance figures are designed to reduce the administrative burden on hospitals during their busiest time of year. But the government has been accused of covering up poor performance in an attempt to limit bad news.

In September NHS England said that weekly data on how hospitals are performing, which will appear from 11 December, would be changing. The agency has since confirmed that …