'Very real' progress on waiting lists - Nesbitt

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has welcomed the “very real progress” in efforts to reduce the longest waiting times.

The Department of Health has provided an update on its Elective Care Framework: Implementation and Funding Plan, showing reductions in long waits, expanded capacity, and fairer care across Northern Ireland.

Emphasising that patients must remain the focus of the entire system, the Minister highlighted the reductions in longest waits:

“Outpatient waits of over four years are down by 14%, and surgical waits of more than four years are down by 21%. In named specialties like gallbladders and tonsils, waits have fallen by almost a quarter. These are early steps, but they show that focus and investment can change lives.

“So the progress we are now seeing is very real. Since April almost 59,000 additional treatments, assessments and diagnostic tests have been delivered – putting us on track to hit the Programme for Government target. However, it’s about people, not numbers and behind every one of those procedures is a patient who has waited, worried, and is now getting the care they deserve.”

He also pointed to key service areas where improvement is being made: “Endoscopy waits are now fewer than half the peak we saw in 2022. For children, the improvements are even clearer – no child is expected to wait more than a year for an endoscopy, and by March 2026, no child should wait beyond 13 weeks for scoliosis, cleft lip or squint surgery. That will make a real difference for families.”

Professor Mark Taylor, recently appointed as Northern Ireland’s first Regional Clinical Director for Elective Care, said: “This very welcome progress is linked to the principles set out in both the Elective Care Framework and the Minister’s Three Year Plan to Stabilise, Reform and Deliver across the Health and Social Care system, with our Health Social Care staff working together as one team.

“We are continuing to put Bengoa into action. One system, working together, reducing inequalities across Trusts, delivering fairer and more consistent access and building resilience into health and social care. That is how we achieve better outcomes for patients.”

Minister Nesbitt thanked staff for their tremendous efforts: “This was never going to be a quick fix. But through keeping the big picture in mind and working together as one team, we will continue to make progress. Northern Ireland is too small for different parts of the health and social care system to be in competition.

“Patients will remain at the centre of our mission to build a health service that is fairer, stronger and sustainable.”

Highlights:

• Almost 59,000 additional outpatient, diagnostic and inpatient procedures delivered – well on track to meet the 70,000 target set in the Programme for Government.

• 14% reduction in patients waiting more than four years for an outpatient appointment.
• 21% reduction in patients waiting more than four years for surgery.
• 24% reduction in long-wait procedures such as gallbladders and tonsils.
• Endoscopy backlog halved since the 2022 peak.
• Paediatric care – by March 2026, no child should wait more than 13 weeks for scoliosis, cleft lip or squint surgery.