By Lizzy Buchan The Department of Health has been criticised by the statistics watchdog for making “potentially misleading” claims about NHS waiting times. Ed Humpherson, head of the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), took issue with a statement made to the Times earlier this month, where the department claimed “we have cut the total waiting list and the number of individual patients waiting for treatment”. It came after more than 74,000 people, including Stephen Fry, Jo Brand and Michael Rosen, signed a 38Degrees letter demanding an emergency plan to cut record waiting lists. Official fi…