PRESSuRE is growing for a series of health board reports on waiting times to be published by the Scottish Government amid growing fears that more NHS bosses are fiddling appointments to meet targets.

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie has called on Health Secretary Alex Neil to publish internal audits conducted by boards across the country to check the system was not being abused.

The reports were ordered after widespread manipulation of waiting-time figures at NHS Lothian, revealed earlier this year. Patients were being offered appointments in England, at short notice, which were impossible to keep but which let the board say it had met targets for offering treatment on time.

Since then, apparent discrepancies at NHS Tayside and NHS Grampian have come to light. Two executives from NHS Tayside have been suspended.

Ms Baillie said: "It is clear that some reports have been completed and action against staff is now taking place in response to the findings of those reports.

"The Scottish Government now needs to release the details of those completed audit reports of waiting lists and urgently publish an interim national report into this scandal.

"Patients can't afford to wait until the New Year to find out what we already know: health boards have been fiddling waiting list figures and patients have suffered delays to treatment.

"We have always been told that this was confined to NHS Lothian.

"The SNP decried our accusation that it was more widespread as an insult to NHS staff.

"The real insult is insisting that the NHS perform more, better and quicker whilst slashing budgets and with almost 2500 fewer nurses.

"These cuts have helped to create an environment which forces staff to manipulate systems. Scots deserve to know what is happening in our NHS and that when they ask for treatment, they are given equal and fair access to the NHS. As this scandal grows, it is more evidence that you can't trust the SNP with our NHS."

The call came as Holyrood authorities agreed to summon Mr Neil to answer an emergency question, tabled by Tory MSP Murdo Fraser, on waiting times today.

He will be asked what action the Government is taking "to ensure that NHS boards do not manipulate waiting-time figures in order to meet targets".

The NHS Lothian waiting-times scandal prompted the resignation of the board's chief executive.

Details of the Tayside case are unclear, though the two managers were sent home from the board's HQ at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, following preliminary audit findings.

In NHS Grampian, patients were allegedly phoned at home during the day to fix appointments and no messages were left if they were out at work. A health board cannot be ruled in breach of a waiting times targets if patients are not contactable.

All health boards were asked to check their waiting-times figures following the NHS Lothian case. A parallel national inquiry, by Audit Scotland and accountancy giant PwC, is expected to report in February.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We expect all health boards to comply with our waiting-times guidance and that is why we have already asked NHS Boards to conduct extensive internal audits of their waiting-times practices.

"This will be completed before the end of the year. In addition, Audit Scotland is undertaking a national audit to ensure health boards' waiting-times practices are completely transparent, and we expect this to publish early next year.

"It is absolutely right these audits take place to make sure waiting-times practices across Scotland are completely consistent with national guidance."