The Quarterly NI Waiting List Statistics At 30 June 2016

The Department of Health today published the quarterly NI Waiting List Statistics, relating to the position at the 30 June 2016.

The Waiting List Statistics Releases show detailed information on the number of people waiting for a first outpatient appointment, a diagnostic test and inpatient or day case treatment at hospitals in the north of Ireland.

Key facts and figures for NI Waiting Times at end of June 2016:

Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Appointment

the 2016/17 Ministerial target relating to outpatient waiting times states that by March 2017, at least 50% of patients should wait no longer than nine weeks for a first outpatient appointment, with no patient waiting longer than 52 weeks
at 30th June 2016, a total of 225,593 people were waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment, 4.9%, (10,442) more than at 31st March 2016 and 6.2% (13,151) more than at the 30th June 2015 at the end of June 2016, 64.8% (146,167) of patients were waiting more than 9 weeks for a first outpatient appointment, compared with 63.2% (136,036) waiting at the end of March 2016 and 60.8% (129,224) at the end of June 2015 at 30th June 2016, over one tenth (13.4%, 30,170) of patients were waiting longer than 52 weeks, 23.3% (5,702) more than at 31st March 2016, and almost three times (20,027) more than at 30th June 2015

Waiting Times for Inpatient and Day Case Admission

the 2016/17 Ministerial target, for inpatient and day case waiting times, states that by March 2017, 55% of patients should wait no longer than 13 weeks for inpatient or day case treatment, with no patient waiting longer than 52 weeks
at 30th June 2016 a total of 70,243 patients were waiting to be admitted to HSC hospitals, 3.5% (2,345) more than the 31st March 2016, and 16.8% (10,116) more than at 30th June 2015 (60,127) at the end of June 2016, 53.1% (37,308) of patients were waiting more than 13 weeks for either inpatient or day case admission, compared with 48.1% (32,676) at the end of March 2016 and 48.3% (29,028) at the end of June 2015 there were 9.7% (6,787) of patients waiting longer than 52 weeks at the 30th June 2016, 13.9% (826) more than at 31st March 2016, and almost twice the number (3,381) waiting at the end of June 2015

Waiting Times for a Diagnostic Service

the 2016/17 Ministerial target for diagnostic waiting times states that, by March 2017, 75% of patients should wait longer than nine weeks for a diagnostic test, with no patient waiting longer than 26 weeks at 30th June 2016, 96,252 patients were waiting for a diagnostic service at HSC hospitals, 2.9% (2,721) more than at 31st March 2016 (93,531) and 7.3% (6,566) more than at 30th June 2016 (89,686) over a third (34.1%, 32,824) of patients were waiting longer than 9 weeks at the end of June 2016, compared with 31.1% (29,088) at the end of March 2016 and 33.5% (30,061) at the end of June 2015 at the end of June 2016, 6,918 (7.2%) of patients were waiting more than 26 weeks for a diagnostic test.

This is an increase of 9.7% (611) compared with the end of March 2016 (6,307), and an increase of 6.7% (434) compared with the number waiting at the end of June 2015 (6,484)

Diagnostic Reporting Turnaround Times

Belfast HSC Trust figures are unvalidated as a response was not provided to validation queries prior to release. Comparing trend data over the last year it is highly likely that the Belfast HSCT figures for quarter ending June 2016 are overestimated. As such figures will be revised in the next publication release
the 2016/17 Ministerial target for diagnostic reporting times states that, from April 2016, all urgent diagnostic tests should be reported on within two days of the test being undertaken a total of 420,361 diagnostic tests were reported on and dispatched to the referring clinician at hospitals during quarter ending June 2016. An increase of 12.9% (47,959) compared to quarter ending March 2016 (372,402), and 13.2% (48,971) more than quarter ending June 2015 (371,390).

As a whole, 86.8% of all urgent diagnostic tests were reported on within 2 days in the quarter ending June 2016, compared to 87.9% in the previous quarter and 89.1% for the same quarter last year the South Eastern HSC Trust reported the highest proportion of urgent tests within two days (95.2%), with the other HSC Trusts reporting between 79.3% and 93.3% of urgent tests within 2 days.

All publications are available online at:

www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/dhssps-statistics-and-research/hospital-waiting-times-statistics