Over 80,000 people waiting on first outpatient appointment

Nearly 82,000 people are currently waiting for a first outpatient appointment in the Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT), which provides services to approximately 300,000 people.

As of March 31, 2025, the exact figure was 81,640 - an increase of 8,125 on the same date last year.

An outpatient appointment enables a patient to see a consultant or a member of their team following an outpatient referral - most of which will be from a GP.

The ‘Quarterly Northern Ireland Outpatient, Inpatient and Day Case, and Diagnostic Waiting Times Statistics’ also revealed the WHSCT had failed to meet the Department’s of Health’s draft target waiting times for first outpatient appointments; inpatient and daycase admissions; diagnostic services, and diagnostic reporting turnaround times.

In fact, the statistics released last week showed none of the Health and Social Care Trusts in the North had met any of these draft target waiting times.

The draft waiting time target for a first outpatient appointment states 50% of patients should wait no longer than nine weeks for an appointment, and no patient should wait longer than 52 weeks.

The draft waiting time target for inpatient / daycase treatment states 55% of patients should wait no longer than 13 weeks, and no patient should be waiting longer than 52 weeks; waiting time begins from the date the clinician decided to admit the patient.

The draft waiting time target for a diagnostic service states 75% of patients should wait no longer than nine weeks for a test, with no patient waiting longer than 26 weeks.

The target for all diagnostic reporting times is all urgent diagnostic tests should be reported on within two days of the test being undertaken.

Additionally, the draft target for diagnostic waiting times aims for 75% of patients to wait no longer than nine weeks for a diagnostic test, with no patient waiting longer than 26 weeks.

According to the Waiting Times Statistics there are 6,594 people in the WHSCT waiting on inpatient admission - 1,570 fewer than last year.

Inpatient waiting list statistics comprise the number of patients waiting for admission to hospital; they are admitted electively, with the expectation that they will remain in hospital for at least one night.

There and 10,824 people in the WHSCT waiting on daycase admission - 3,516 fewer than last year.

Day case admissions are patients admitted electively with the expectation, although they may require supervised recovery, they do not require the use of a hospital bed overnight and will return home as scheduled the same day.

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There are 26,403 people in the WHSCT waiting on a diagnostic test - an increase of 516 people on the March 31, 2024 of figure of 25,884.

A diagnostic service provides an examination, test or procedure used to identify a person’s disease or condition and which allows a medical diagnosis to be made; they include: magnetic resonance imaging; plain film x-rays; and non-obstretic ultrasound.

Day case endoscopies are reported on the day of the test and are, therefore, not included in diagnostic reporting times.

Regarding diagnostic service reporting turnaround, there are currently 28,538 people in the WHSCT waiting on test results - and increase of 2,473 on the March 31, 2024 figure of 26,065.