An MP says lessons must be learned after a report revealed hospital waiting list figures were altered to meet Government targets.

Crawley MP Laura Moffatt said it had been an enormous disappointment to the people of the town to learn hospital bosses had deliberately removed names from waiting list figures at Crawley Hospital and East Surrey Hospital, Redhill.

Mrs Moffatt - herself a former nurse at Crawley Hospital - said: "It is vital the necessary lessons are learned, not just in Surrey and Sussex, but across the NHS."

She said the problem related to senior executives' management of waiting lists at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust between 1998 and 2000. These executives are not in place now.

Mrs Moffatt was commenting on a report by the NHS South East regional office. It was requested by the trust's current chief executive Ken Cunningham.

The report lays the blame for the waiting list cover-up at the feet of former chief executive Isobel Gowan, who left by mutual agreement in April 2000.

A trust spokeswoman said other high-ranking officials involved had since left and junior staff had been retrained to comply with guidelines.

Mrs Moffatt said: "Responsibility for decisions taken by senior executives regarding the accuracy of information on waiting list figures must rest with the then chief executive. Clearly any concealment could not succeed in the long term."

She said that since Mr Cunningham's appointment, many of the issues raised in the report had been addressed.

She added: "A further 1,700 more people have been treated and removed from the waiting list since September 2000 and the trust is on target to deliver the maximum waiting list times of 15 months by 2002."