NHS chief: Waiting list manipulation unacceptable The head of the NHS in Scotland today said a waiting time fiddle which threatens to undermine patient confidence was "completely unacceptable." NHS Scotland chief Derek Feely condemns waiting list manipulation as "totally unacceptable" Bullying and harrassment claims refuted by chiefs as watchdogs find no evidence of wider culture of waiting list fiddles But Derek Feely, chief executive of the NHS in Scotland, said there was no evidence that the practice in NHS Lothian was widespread. Health board chiefs in Scotland have rejected claims that there was any "bullying or harrassment" of staff after the hidden waiting lists scandal emerged last year. NHS Lothian has been criticised for removing patients from the 18-week waiting list when they refused to travel to England for treatment, marking them as "unavailable for social reasons." Mr Feeley told Holyrood's public audit committee today: "The manipulation of waiting times is totally unacceptable, but futher evidence of deliberate manipulation has not been found." A report by public spending watchodog Audit Scotland found that across Scotland the use of "social unavailability" status to remove patients from lists had tripled as tougher waiting times targets were introduced - then suddenly plummeted as the scandal at NHS Lothian emerged. The watchdog could find no evidence of "manipulation" by staff - but said it could not explain the trend. Both Robert Calderwood chief executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board and his Tayside counterpart Gerry Marr denied there was any undue pressure on staff to meet targets. "I don't recognise issues of a bullying culture and a fear of reporting an inability to deliver a target," Mr Calderwood said. I think the board of Greater Glasgow and Clyde can demonstrate at public meetings that waiting list information and other patient quality information is debated very publicly every month. Mr Marr added: "We've been thorough in the way we tackle this and I would refute allegations of bullying and harassment."