Publication of the Quarterly Northern Ireland Outpatient, Inpatient and Day Case, and Diagnostic Waiting Times Statistics - position on 31 December 2024

Date published: 27 February 2025

The waiting times statistical bulletins provide detailed information on the number of people waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment, inpatient/ day case treatment, or a diagnostic test at hospitals in Northern Ireland.

* On 9 November 2023 the South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust launched 'encompass' - a new electronic patient record system. The system also went live in Belfast HSC Trust on 6 June 2024 and in Northern HSC Trust on 7 November 2024, and its rollout across the other Trusts will continue in 2025. Given the relatively recent transition of Northern Trust to completely digitised health records, no validated data were available for this Trust at the time of publication.

The data which it has been possible to include for South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts have been presented separately, as they are not directly comparable with the other Trusts. These figures, sourced from encompass, are considered to be 'official statistics in development', which are a subset of Official Statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. While caution must be exercised when using these figures, they are a meaningful representation of what they measure and are of sufficient quality for publication and use.

Charts and figures throughout these statistical bulletins for the Trusts using encompass for which data are available i.e. South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts, are presented separately. Charts and figures with time series only include data to 31 December 2024 for the Southern and Western HSC Trusts. *

Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Appointment

1.    The figures provided separately for South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts are from encompass and are considered to be 'official statistics in development'. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures. Validated data for the Northern HSC Trust were not available at the time of publication.

Southern and Western HSC Trusts

2.    The draft target for outpatient waiting times states that 50% of patients should wait no longer than nine weeks for a first outpatient appointment, with no patient waiting longer than 52 weeks.
3.    167,452 patients were waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment at hospitals in the Southern and Western HSC Trusts on 31 December 2024, 0.6% (921) more than on 30 September 2024 (166,531), and 12.1% (18,037) more than on 31 December 2023 (149,415).
4.    The median waiting time was 67.6 weeks and the 95th percentile waiting time was 288.6 weeks.
5.    87.8% (147,048) of patients were waiting more than nine weeks for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment on 31 December 2024, compared with 86.5% (144,011) on 30 September 2024 and 86% (128,476) on 31 December 2023.
6.    56.5% (94,588) of patients were waiting more than 52 weeks for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment on 31 December 2024, compared with 55.5% (92,378) on 30 September 2024 and 52.5% (78,502) on 31 December 2023.

Belfast and South Eastern HSC Trusts

7.    274,341 patients were waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment at hospitals in the Belfast and South Eastern HSC Trusts on 31 December 2024.
8.    The median waiting time was 60.1 weeks and the 95th percentile waiting time was 308.1 weeks.
9.    87.3% (239,535) of patients were waiting more than nine weeks for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment on 31 December 2024.
10.    54.2% (148,819) of patients were waiting more than 52 weeks for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment on 31 December 2024.

Waiting Times for Inpatient and Day Case Admission

1.    The figures provided separately for South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts are from encompass and are considered to be 'official statistics in development'. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures. Validated data for the Northern HSC Trust were not available at the time of publication.
2.    The draft target for inpatient and day case waiting times states that 55% of patients should wait no longer than 13 weeks for inpatient/ day case treatment; with no patient waiting longer than 52 weeks.

Southern and Western HSC Trusts

3.    34,690 patients were waiting for inpatient or day case admission to hospitals in the Southern and Western HSC Trusts on 31 December 2024, 8.9% (3,382) fewer than on 30 September 2024 (38,072), and 23.4% (10,597) less than on 31 December 2023 (45,287).
4.    The median waiting time was 54.7 weeks and the 95th percentile was 294.1 weeks (approximately 5 years and 34 weeks).
5.    74.8% (25,931) of patients were waiting more than 13 weeks for admission, compared with 77.8% (29,634) on 30 September 2024 and 77.1% (34,930) on 31 December 2023.
6.    50.8% (17,616) of patients were waiting more than 52 weeks for admission, compared with 52.8% (20,108) on 30 September 2024 and 51.8% (23,468) on 31 December 2023.

South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts

7.    59,715 patients were waiting for inpatient or day case admission to hospitals in the South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts on 31 December 2024.
8.    The median waiting time was 45.1 weeks and the 95th percentile was 330.2 weeks (approximately 6 years and 18 weeks). 
9.    71.7% (42,832) of patients were waiting more than 13 weeks for admission.
10.    46.5% (27,777) of patients were waiting more than 52 weeks for admission.

Waiting Times for a Diagnostic Service

1.    The figures provided separately for South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts are from encompass and are considered to be 'official statistics in development'. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures. Validated data for the Northern Trust were not available at the time of publication.
2.    The draft target for diagnostic waiting times states that 75% of patients should wait no longer than nine weeks for a diagnostic test, with no patient waiting longer than 26 weeks.

Southern and Western HSC Trusts

3.    73,989 patients were waiting for a diagnostic test in the Southern and Western HSC Trusts on 31 December 2024, 0.7% (484) more than on 30 September 2024 (73,505), and 9.2% (6,243) more than on 31 December 2023 (67,746).
4.    66.6% (49,293) of patients were waiting more than 9 weeks for a diagnostic test, compared with 64.4% (47,349) on 30 September 2024 and 62.8% (42,524) on 31 December 2023.
5.    38.5% (28,494) of patients were waiting more than 26 weeks for a diagnostic test compared with 37.8% (27,819) on 30 September 2024 and 34.9% (23,645) on 31 December 2023.

South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts

6.    96,022 patients were waiting for a diagnostic test in the South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts.
7.    67.4% (64,721) of patients were waiting more than 9 weeks for a diagnostic test.
8.    44.5% (42,696) of patients were waiting more than 26 weeks for a diagnostic test.

Diagnostic Reporting Turnaround Times

1.    The figures provided separately for South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts are from encompass and are considered to be 'official statistics in development'. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures. Validated data for the Northern Trust were not available at the time of publication.
2.    The draft target for diagnostic reporting times states that all urgent diagnostic tests should be reported on within two days of the test being undertaken.

Southern and Western HSC Trusts

3.    168,365 diagnostic tests were reported on at hospitals in the Southern and Western HSC Trusts during the quarter ending December 2024. Of these, 27.0% (45,446) were urgent tests and the remaining 73.0% (122,919) were routine tests.
4.    Of the 45,446 urgent diagnostic tests, 82.0% (37,251) were reported on within 2 days.

South Eastern and Belfast HSC Trusts

5.    195,019 diagnostic tests were reported on at hospitals in the Belfast and South Eastern HSC Trusts during the quarter ending December 2024. Of these, 22.5% (43,935) were urgent tests and the remaining 77.5% (151,084) were routine tests.
6.    Of the 43,935 urgent diagnostic tests, 69.2% (30,386) were reported on within 2 days.