Over 300 thousand people in NI waiting to see consultant
Health Minister warns of a 'difficult' winter as new waiting lists figures are released
New figures published by the Department for Health show that 311,090 patients in Northern Ireland were waiting for a first-time consultation.
The new statistics, which covers April – June this year, showed 11, 654 more people were waiting for a first-time consultation compared to the same period in 2019.
The Ministerial target for March 2021 was that at least 50% of patient would have to wait no longer than nine weeks for a first outpatient appointment, with no patient waiting longer than 52 weeks.
At the end of June 2020 almost nine out of ten patients were waiting more than nine weeks for a consultant-led outpatient appointment, which is up by over 10% from March 2020.
Today’s newly release figures show 41,500 attendances for a first outpatient appointment, which is a decrease of over 60% since March last year.
Meanwhile, almost nine tenths of patients were waiting more than 13 weeks to be admitted for treatment.
Health Minister Robin Swann responded to the figures, warning that a ``very difficult winter'' is ahead with a ``very fragile'' health service due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s 27,465 more people waiting for treatment in Northern Ireland by June 2020 compared to the same time last year.
Waiting times for patients looking to receive a diagnostic service, examination, test or procedure also increased this quatre.
By June a total of 149,403 patients were waiting for a diagnostic service, while over a third of patients were waiting more than 26 weeks for a diagnostic test and almost three quarters of patients waiting longer than nine weeks.
Margaret Carr, Cancer Research UK's public affairs manager in Northern Ireland, said:
The early diagnosis of cancer can significantly improve someone's chances of survival and so it's essential people don't have to wait too long for diagnostic tests.
As people with suspected symptoms, who perhaps did not approach their doctor during lockdown, now come forward for help and are referred for tests, pressure on these services is also likely to increase.
Tackling the backlog of those waiting for tests will require more workforce, more equipment and the adoption of other innovations that release capacity into the system.''
Health Minister Robin Swann responded to the figures, warning that a very difficult winter'' is ahead with avery fragile'' health service due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A necessary focus on dealing with the virus created a virtual lockdown of normal health and social care services. This has had an inevitable and serious impact on waiting lists that were already far beyond being unacceptable,'' he said.
"We are facing a very difficult winter for an already very fragile health service.''
A lot of hard work is ongoing on the rebuilding of services. Last month, I announced important initiatives on day surgery and orthopaedics. Proposals are also being finalised for other key priority areas including cancer services and urgent and emergency care.
Running both Covid and non-Covid services is a massive challenge. Work to rebuild services will take time and will be entirely dependant on the path Covid will take. It is inevitable that there will be further hospital-based outbreaks and clusters in the months ahead.
Infection control measures are going to be with for us for some time and inevitably, despite our rebuilding efforts, this will have an adverse impact on waiting times for procedures. Trusts are doing all that they can to maximise theatre and bed capacity.
We all have a role to play in protecting our health service and supporting our staff - by following the public health advice on social distancing, hand washing and wearing face coverings.
Stopping the virus spreading helps protect services as well as people.
We are facing a very difficult winter for an already very fragile health service.''