More than half a million patients are still on waiting lists for their first hospital outpatient consultation, according to new data. 

January data published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) revealed 568,691 people were on the waiting list for outpatient care, including 79,241 children. 

Some 327,000 people have been waiting for up to six months, while 139,000 people have been waiting for up to a year. 

Nearly 55,000 people have been on the waiting list for outpatient consultations for over 18 months. 

The new data also showed 86,000 patients were waiting for an appointment for their inpatient or day-case treatment. 

Waiting lists and funding

Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane said more aggressive cuts to waiting lists could be made if greater resource were available. 

“The challenges of even achieving more ambitious targets are further hampered by having a recruitment embargo in place and not having additional funding in health for new measures,” he said. 

“All of that is going to, in my view, see a year of missed opportunities where we could have very aggressively reduced those waits.” 

The Department of Health said since the COVID-19 pandemic’s peak, there has been a 25% reduction in the number of people waiting longer than the Sláintecare targets, which equates to nearly 155,000 people. 

Deputy Cullinane welcomes the “modest” positive changes, but said the figures are not falling fast enough to make a significant difference. 

“The fact is the overall waiting list on the acute side has only dropped by 3% over the course of a year,” he said. 

More than 24,000 people were also waiting for an appointment for a GI Endoscopy, according to the NTPF data.