Total numbers waiting for a consultant-led appointment have increased by 10% since last year.
The Department of Health (DoH) has today published the quarterly statistics for NI inpatient, day case, diagnostic and outpatient appointments.
The figures – relating to the position at June 30 2023 – have shown the median waiting time for an outpatient appointment was 52.4 weeks, with some patients waiting up to almost five years.
Newly-appointed NI Director of the Royal College of Surgeons England (RCS England) Niall McGonigle said the figures revealed a system and staff under “relentless strain”.
“These new Department of Health figures show waiting times for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant have risen massively on the last quarter by over 15,000,” he said.
“Diagnostics have also jumped by 15,000 whilst inpatients reduced slightly by around 2%. Taken together these figures are deeply worrying and show the system and staff are under relentless strain.
“The drive to do better remains for all of us and we have no time to lose in addressing these long waiting lists.
“We are two years into a five-year waiting list plan and it is significant that the Department of Health is saying at the mid-way point that we have no way of meeting the 2026 target due to severe budgetary pressures.
“This assessment along with today’s figures raises the alarm on all our elective recovery expectations.
“When you add in the current Northern Ireland political instability into the mix, the business of sustained and successful elective recovery is even harder.”
A total of 416,022 patients were waiting for an appointment in June 2023, a 3.7% rise on the March 2023 figure (401,201) and a 10.1% rise on the previous year’s figure (377,757).
Niall McGonigle
Targets set by DoH hope to see no more than 50% of patients waiting more than nine weeks for an outpatient appointment.
In June 2023, 82.1% of patients (341,715) were waiting more than the nine-week target, an increase on both the March 2023 figure (81.3%) and the June 2022 figure of 81.6%.
Some 49% of patients were waiting more than 52 weeks for that first consultant-led appointment, a decrease on the March 2023 figure (49.2%) and the 51.5% recorded in June 2022.
The median time waited by inpatients awaiting day case treatment was also greater than a year at 58.3 weeks, while one patient has been waiting around five years and 13 weeks.
The total number waiting has fallen, with 119,095 inpatients currently on the list, a decrease of 2.3% on March 2023 (121,879) and of 6.6% on June 2022 (127,541).
Nearly 78% of inpatients were waiting more than 13 weeks, well short of the 55% target set by DoH, a slight increase on the 77.4% recorded in March 2023 and lower than June 2022’s figure of 80.2%.
More than half (52.8%) of inpatients were waiting more than a year for treatment.
DoH targets for 75% of patients waiting no longer than nine weeks for a diagnostic test were met, with 55% waiting more than nine weeks.
Total numbers waiting on a diagnostic test (188,776) increased by 9% from March 2023 and 13.5% on the previous year’s figures.
Department targets also aim to have all urgent diagnostic tests reported on within two days of the test being undertaken. 22% of the 458,178 tests reported on in the quarter leading up to June 2023 were urgent tests, with 78.7% reported on within two days.
Mr McGonigle has welcomed progress on a number of new initiatives aimed at reducing waiting lists.
“We welcome the roll-out and expanded activity of the pre-assessment mega clinics, Rapid Diagnosis Centres, Post Anaesthetic Care Units, and of course surgical hubs at Lagan Valley and Omagh,” he said.
“Over 10,000 patients have been treated at Lagan Valley which is a great result for patients across a range of specialties.
“As well as overnight surgery centres at the Mater Hospital, Daisy Hill and South West Acute Hospital. Taken together, these sites, with the appropriate staff and resources in place, are major drivers in reducing the waiting lists.”