More than half a million patients in Northern Ireland are waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment, latest statistics have shown.
The figure was included in a quarterly data release published by the Department of Health on Thursday.
A graph within the release shows the number of patients waiting has increased sharply since the 44,149 recorded in March 2013 to 506,612 at the end of September this year.
The final statistics were once again affected by the roll-out of Encompass, NI’s new digitised healthcare records system, with data for the South Eastern and Belfast Trusts included separately.
Those trusts have been running the Encompass system since November 2023 and June 2024 respectively, while the Northern Trust launched its roll-out earlier this month.
The latter’s figures have been included in the NI-wide data, which was recorded before the launch.
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On September 30, 238,929 patients within the Northern, Southern and Western Trusts were awaiting a first consultant-led appointment. More than half (56.8%) are waiting for an appointment under general surgery, ENT, gynaecology, dermatology or neurology specialities.
More than 85% of patients have been waiting more than nine weeks, while over half (52%) have been waiting more than a year.
Within the South Eastern Trust, 115,596 patients are currently waiting on an initial consultant-led appointment, with over 88% waiting more than nine weeks and 58% waiting more than a year.
Department targets state that half of patients should wait no longer than nine weeks for a first appointment, while no patients should be waiting longer than a year.
In the Belfast Trust, there were 152,087 patients waiting on September 30.
The roll-out of digitised healthcare records system Encompass has affected the collection of data
Overall, the highest number of patients (37,453) were waiting for an appointment in general surgery, followed by ear, nose and throat (ENT) with 34,409.
Figures for the South Eastern Trust showed 15,348 waiting for ENT appointments, with a further 14,020 awaiting a first appointment for gynaecology.
Data for the Belfast Trust were not validated and therefore unavailable.
At least one in 20 patients within the Northern, Southern and Western Trusts waiting for neurology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, urology, rheumatology, general medicine, gastroenterology, general surgery, dermatology or thoracic medicine had been waiting more than five years.
The department said figures for the South Eastern and Belfast Trusts were considered “official statistics in development” and that caution should be used when viewing them.
It previously told this newspaper gaps in data as a result of the Encompass roll-out may never be rectified.
“Encompass has been capturing diagnostic waiting time data for both the South Eastern and Belfast Trusts since their respective “Go Lives” and work has been undertaken to ensure the information is accurate, fully validated and meets required standards,” said a spokesperson.
“The plan is that retrospective statistics will be provided for waiting times, to address current gaps in reporting.
“In limited areas this may not be possible, for instance where information recording has improved and there is a new approach, full details will be disclosed when the data validation is complete with Trusts.”