National Statistics

All statistics contained within this publication are National Statistics except for statistics relating to Day Case Procedure Centre waiting lists and inpatient activity.

Published by: Information & Analysis Directorate, Department of Health
Statisticians: Adam Robinson, Jenny Finlay & Liz Graham
Contact:

Reporting Date: 31 December 2023
Publication Date: 29 February 2024
Date of Next Publication: 30 May 2024

Coverage: Northern Ireland
Frequency: Quarterly

On 9th November 2023 the South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust launched “Encompass” - a new electronic patient record system. Its roll out across the other Trusts will follow on a phased basis throughout 2024/25. Consequently, the data for South Eastern as at 31 December 2023 was not available at the time of this publication, as the Trust transitions to completely digitised health records. Therefore, charts and figures presented throughout this report have excluded patients waiting for admission to the South Eastern Trust to allow comparisons to be made for the four remaining HSC Trusts compared with previous time points. As such, any NI level figures presented throughout this report only include those for Belfast, Northern, Southern and Western HSC Trusts.


This statistical release presents information on waiting times for admission for inpatient or day case treatment in Northern Ireland and reports on the performance of the Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts against the draft waiting time target, which 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.”

Information is detailed on the number of patients waiting and length of time waiting by HSC Trust and specialty. Provisional statistics on inpatient and day case activity are also included.

All of the data contained in this release have been published in CSV format in order to aid secondary analysis. These are available at the following links:

https://data.nisra.gov.uk/product/HWTS

https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-waiting-time-statistics-inpatient-and-day-case-waiting-times-december-2023

Throughout this report comparisons are made to the previous quarter (30 September 2023) and to the same date last year (31 December 2022) and five years ago (31 December 2018).

Statistics in this report refer to the number of patients waiting and the length of time they had been waiting as at the reporting date. They do not indicate completed waiting times or expected future waiting times.

Key Figures

Inpatient and Day Case Waiting Times

Figures in this section exclude the South Eastern Trust as data was not available as at 31 December 2023.

  • 97,794 patients were waiting for inpatient or day case admission to hospitals in the Belfast, Northern, Southern and Western HSC Trusts on 31 December 2023, 6.4% (6,679) fewer than on 30 September 2023 (104,473), and 12.7% (14,259) less than on 30 December 2022 (112,053).

  • 56.3% of patients were waiting for admission under the Trauma and Orthopaedics (T&O) Surgery, General Surgery or Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialties.

  • The median waiting time was 58.4 weeks, an increase from 57.3 weeks on 30 September 2023.

  • The 95 percentile waiting time was 289.7 weeks, an increase from 280.7 weeks on 30 September 2023.

  • 77.9% (76,161) of patients were waiting more than 13 weeks for admission, compared with 79.0% (82,540) on 30 September 2023 and 78.7% (88,205) on 31 December 2022.

  • 52.4% (51,251) of patients were waiting more than 52 weeks for admission, compared with 52.5% (54,828) on 30 September 2023 and 54.3% (60,809) on 31 December 2022.

Inpatient and Day Case Waiting List

Figures in this section exclude the South Eastern Trust as data was not available for the positon as at December 2023. However, the previously published time series including all Trusts up to September 2023 has been included in Figure 1 to provide context.

On 31 December 2023, there were 97,794 patients waiting for inpatient or day case admission to hospitals in the Belfast, Northern, Southern and Western HSC Trusts.

The number of patients waiting has decreased by 6.4% (6,679) from 30 September 2023 and by 12.7% (14,259) from 31 December 2022.

Figure 1: Patients Waiting for an Inpatient or Day Case Admission

30 September 2007 to 30 December 2023

This line chart shows that the number of patients waiting rose steadily from 42,435 on 30 September 2013 to 114,222 on 30 June 2022. It has since decreased to 97,794 on 31 December 2023.

Waiting List by Specialty

Figures in this section exclude the South Eastern Trust from both time points as data was not available for the position as at 31 December 2023.

On 31 December 2023, the largest waiting lists were for T&O Surgery (23,586 patients) and General Surgery (20,033 patients).

Of specialties with at least 500 patients waiting, the greatest proportionate growth was in the GP Other specialty which grew by 17.1% (246 patients). The greatest proportionate reduction was in the Plastic Surgery specialty, with 51.6% (583) fewer patients.

Figure 2: Patients Waiting for an Inpatient or Day Case Admission by Specialty

31 December 2023 compared with 31 December 2022

The bar chart above shows the number of patients waiting for admission under each specialty on 31 December 2023, with markers comparing numbers on 31 December 2022. Only specialties with at least 500 patients waiting are shown.

Median and 95th Percentile Waiting Times

Figures in this section exclude the South Eastern Trust from the entire time series as data was not available for the position as at 31 December 2023.

The median waiting time is the middle value when all patients are ordered by length of time waiting. This is preferred over the mean as an average of waiting times because waiting times tend to be skewed by longer waits and therefore more patients are waiting for less time than the mean.

The 95th percentile waiting time is the length of time that 95% of patients have been waiting equal to or less than i.e. one in twenty patients have been waiting longer than this time. The 95th percentile is used as an indication of the range of current waiting times without being distorted by extreme values or the prioritisation of urgent waits.

On 31 December 2023, the median waiting time for all patients was 58.4 weeks (approximately 1 year and 6 weeks) and the 95th percentile was 289.7 weeks (approximately 5 years and 30 weeks).

Figure 3: Median and 95th Percentile Waiting Times

30 June 2007 to 31 December 2023

This line chart shows that the median waiting time increased gradually from 12.1 weeks at 31 March 2016 to 30.0 weeks at 31 March 2020. There was then a sharp increase to 82.0 weeks on 30 September 2021 and since then a gradual decrease to 58.4 weeks on 31 December 2023.

The 95th percentile has increased steadily from 34.4 weeks at 31 March 2014 to 289.7 weeks on 31 December 2023.

Waiting Times by Specialty

Figures in this section exclude the South Eastern Trust as data was not available for the position as at 31 December 2023.

There is a large variation in median and 95th percentile waiting times across different specialties. Low medians relative to the 95th percentile can be an indication of large numbers of patients recently joining a list or a greater proportion of urgent patients within a specialty.

Figure 4: Median and 95th Percentile Waiting Time by Specialty

31 December 2023

The bar chart above shows the median and 95th percentile waiting times for specialties where at least 500 patients were waiting for admission on 31 December 2023. The longest median waiting time was 100.7 weeks in the Plastic Surgery specialty.

One in twenty (5%) patients waiting for ENT, Plastic Surgery, Urology, General Surgery or T & O Surgery admissions had been waiting over 5 years.

Performance against Targets

Figures in this section exclude the South Eastern Trust from the entire time series as data was not available for the position as at 31 December 2023.

The draft waiting times target 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.

Note that this target was introduced in 2016/17.

Figure 5: Patients Waiting Under 13 Week Target

30 June 2016 to 31 December 2023

The line and stacked bar charts above illustrate the percentage and number of patients waiting less than 13 weeks at the end of each quarter between 30 June 2016 and 31 December 2023.

Across this period the target of 55% of patients waiting less than 13 weeks was not achieved, with the lowest proportion under 13 weeks being 10.0% (9,198 of 92.216 patients) on 30 June 2020.

On 31 December 2023, 22.1% of patients (21,633 of 97,794) were waiting less than 13 weeks, an increase from 21.3% (23,848 of 112,053) on 31 December 2022 and a decrease from 33.7% (26,506 of 78,628) on 31 December 2018.

Figure 6: Patients Waiting Over 52 Week Target

30 June 2016 to 31 December 2023

The line and stacked bar charts above illustrate the percentage and number of patients waiting over 52 weeks at the end of each quarter between 30 June 2016 and 31 December 2023.

Across this period the target of no patients waiting longer than 52 weeks was not achieved, with the highest proportion over 52 weeks being 63.5% (65,938 of 103,773 patients) at 31 March 2021.

On 31 December 2023, 52.4% of patients (51,251 of 97,794) were waiting longer than 52 weeks, a decrease from 54.3% (60,809 of 112,053) on 31 December 2022 and an increase from 25.1% (19,740 of 78,628) on 31 December 2018.

Performance by HSC Trust

Figures in this section exclude the South Eastern Trust as data was not available for the position as at 31 December 2023.

Draft target: 55% of patients should wait no longer than 13 weeks and no patient should wait longer than 52 weeks for inpatient or day case treatment.

Data shown in this section indicates the Health and Social Care Trust responsible for a patient’s care. As Day Case Procedure Centres are a regional service, they have been reported separately from HSC Trusts.

Figure 7: Waiting Times by HSC Trust and Day Case Procedure Centres

31 December 2023

The proportionate stacked bar chart above breaks down the length of time patients have been waiting by the Health and Social Care Trust responsible for their service.

No Trust met the target to have 55% of patients waiting less than 13 weeks, nor the target to have no patients waiting longer than 52 weeks.

Between 17.9% and 35.5% of patients were waiting less than 13 weeks in each HSC Trust and between 32.4% and 59.4% were waiting longer than 52 weeks.

Inpatient and Day Case Activity

Provisional Statistics

Admissions data are fully validated once per year. Statistics in this section are subject to revision in subsequent releases and do not hold National Statistics status.

Fully validated inpatient and day case activity statistics are published annually at the following link:

https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/inpatient-and-day-case-activity


Figures in this section exclude the South Eastern Trust from the entire time series as data was not available for the quarter ending December 2023.

Between 1 October and 31 December 2023 there were 35,775 admissions commissioned by the health service, of which 10.2% (3,642) were admitted to independent sector providers commissioned by the health service and the remaining 89.8% (32,133) treated within health service hospitals.

Figure 8: Inpatient and Day Case Admissions Commissioned by HSC Trusts

Quarter Ending June 2013 to Quarter Ending December 2023

The bar chart above indicates the number of patients admitted within each quarter between 1 April 2013 and 31 December 2023. The number of patients being admitted increased steadily from 10,872 in quarter ending June 2020 to 36,015 in quarter ending March 2023, but reduced to 35,775 in quarter ending December 2023. The number of patients admitted in the quarter ending December 2023 is 17.5% (7,608 patients) lower compared to the quarter ending June 2013 and 8.4% (3,264 patients) lower than the quarter ending December 2018.

Data Sources, Quality and Guidance

Data sources

The sources of the data contained in this release are the HSC Trust’s Patient Administration Systems, the DoH Inpatient Waiting Times Dataset, the Hospital Inpatient System and the DoH IS1 Return.

Inpatient / day case admission

Inpatient and day case waiting list data comprise the number of patients waiting for inpatient and day case admission to hospital.

Inpatient admissions are patients admitted electively with the expectation that they will remain in hospital for at least one night.

Day case admissions are patients admitted electively with the expectation that 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.

Measurement of waiting times

Statistics in this report refer to the number of patients waiting and the length of time they had been waiting as at the reporting date. They do not indicate completed waiting times or expected future waiting times. Waiting time begins from the date the clinician decided to admit the patient.

Patients who cannot attend or miss their appointment have their waiting time recorded from the date they informed the HSC Trust that they could not attend or the date of the missed appointment.

Patients suspended for medical or social reasons as at the reporting date are not included in the statistics. If re-instated, the period of suspension is excluded from the waiting time.

Time bands relate to the number of completed weeks a patient has been waiting for admission. For example, a patient waiting exactly 6 weeks would be included in the 0-6 week time band and a patient waiting 6 weeks and 1 day would be included in the 6-13 week time band.

Reporting patients against Health and Social Care Trusts

A number of inpatient and day case services may not be provided at a patient’s local HSC Trust and instead are provided as centralised services for Northern Ireland.

Patients are reported against the HSC Trust responsible for the service to which they have been referred.

Day Case Procedure Centres

From February 2019, Day Case Procedure Centres (DPCs) are being introduced to deliver large volumes of non-complex routine surgery.

Patients waiting for specific non-urgent surgical treatments can be referred to a DPC for treatment rather than attend the hospital site they may ordinarily have been referred to.

Patients waiting for admission to a Day Case Procedure Centre are included in these statistics.

As these services are managed on a regional basis, patients are not allocated as waiting at a particular HSC Trust and where a Trust split is used in these statistics, the patients are instead reported separately against Day Case Procedure Centres.

Patients with multiple waits

Some patients will be on more than one waiting list or be on the same waiting list for more than one admission due to having multiple conditions. Such patients are counted more than once depending on how many times they are waiting.

There is a known overlap of patients waiting for diagnostic endoscopies that will be managed as an inpatient/day case admission. These are included in both the inpatient and day case waiting time and diagnostic waiting time figures. Due to the risk of multiple counting, these two sets of data should not be combined to give an estimate of the total number of patients waiting for admission or a diagnostic service.

Patients resident outside Northern Ireland and private patients

Statistics on patients waiting for inpatient and day case admission include patients living outside Northern Ireland and privately funded patients waiting for treatment in Health Service hospitals in Northern Ireland.

Exclusions

Inpatient and day case waiting list figures do not include:

• Patients admitted as emergency cases

• Patients waiting for planned admission i.e. patients given proposed date of admission determined by social or clinical criteria

• Patients undergoing a planned programme of treatment e.g. a series of admissions for chemotherapy

• Patients waiting for admission as a regular day or night attender

• Patients waiting for maternity specialties (except where the intention is to terminate the pregnancy)

• Patients waiting who are currently admitted for another reason

• Patients who are temporarily suspended for medical or social reasons

Inpatient and day case activity

Provisional statistics on inpatient and day case activity are presented to provide contextual information in relation to waiting lists.

Hospital data are sourced from the Hospital Inpatient System and Independent Sector data are provided by the Strategic Planning and Performance Group in the Department of Health.

These data are not National Statistics and have not been validated or quality assured by HSC Trusts prior to publication.

Data quality is addressed on an ongoing basis and figures are subject to revision in subsequent publications as hospital records may not be fully up to date as at the publication date.

Provisional statistics on inpatient and day case activity do not include:

• Planned patients

• Emergency patients

• Other patients not admitted from a waiting list e.g. transferred patients

Further technical guidance

Technical guidance and definitions, as well as notes on how to use the data contained within this statistical release are available at the following link: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/inpatient-waiting-times

Additional Information and Data

Data from this publication

Data detailed in this publication are also available on the NISRA Data Portal and in CSV format to aid secondary analysis.

The Data Portal allows users to filter results, plot interactive charts and read data via API queries and to download data in CSV, XLSX, JSON-stat and PX formats. It can be accessed at the following link: https://data.nisra.gov.uk/product/HWTS

CSV files are available to download at the following link: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-waiting-time-statistics-inpatient-and-day-case-waiting-times-december-2023

Other waiting times publications

Statistics on waiting times for outpatients, diagnostic services, cancer and emergency care are available at the following link: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/doh-statistics-and-research/hospital-waiting-times-statistics

National Statistics

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Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has accredited these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing or via the OSR website Office for Statistics Regulation (https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk).

It is the Department of Health’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected of National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained and reinstated when standards are restored.

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in March 2013. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

Since the assessment by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Further information on the Code of Practice for Statistics is available at: https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/accredited-official-statistics/.

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