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, Ben Simpson & Siobhán Morgan
Contact:

Reporting Date: 31 March 2023
Publication Date: 25 May 2023
Date of Next Publication: 31 August 2023

Coverage: Northern Ireland
Frequency: Quarterly

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 data are available at: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-waiting-time-statistics-Inpatient-waiting-times-March-2023

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

Statistics for patients waiting for admission at Day Case Procedure Centres are now included in the main waiting list statistics rather than being reported separately as in previous releases. Time series presented in this report have been backdated to reflect this change. The total number of patients waiting each quarter remains unchanged and statistics on patients waiting specifically at Day Case Procedure Centres are still available in the accompanying CSV files.

Key Figures

Inpatient and Day Case Waiting Times

  • A total of 121,879 patients were waiting for inpatient or day case admission to hospitals in Northern Ireland, 2.6% (3,245) less than at 31 December 2022 (125,124), and 3.0% (3,833) less than at 31 March 2022 (125,712).
  • 54.1% of patients were waiting for admission under the General Surgery, Trauma and Orthopaedics or Ear, Nose and Throat specialties.
  • The median waiting time was 59.3 weeks, a decrease from 61.3 weeks at 31 December 2022.
  • The 95 percentile waiting time was 268.3 weeks, an increase from 258.6 weeks at 31 December 2022.
  • 77.4% (94,305) of patients were waiting more than 13 weeks for admission, compared with 78.0% (97,659) at 31 December 2022 and 81.3% (102,164) at 31 March 2022.
  • 52.9% (64,513) of patients were waiting more than 52 weeks for admission, compared with 53.7% (67,164) at 31 December 2022 and 56.4% (70,871) at 31 March 2022.

Inpatient and Day Case Waiting List

As at 31 March 2023, there were 121,879 patients waiting for inpatient or day case admission to hospitals in Northern Ireland.

The number of patients waiting has decreased by 2.6% (3,245) from 31 December 2022 and by 3.0% (3,833) from 31 March 2022.

Patients can be waiting for more than one inpatient or day case admission. The figure of 121,879 patients waiting refers to the number of patient pathways and is the total number of admissions being waited on. This relates to approximately 112,400 individual patients.

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

30 June 2007 to 31 March 2023

This line chart shows that the number of patients waiting rose steadily from 47,223 on 30 September 2013 to 127,541 on 30 June 2022. It has since decreased to 121,879 on 31 March 2023.

Waiting List by Specialty

At 31 March 2023, the largest waiting lists were for General Surgery (26,327 patients) and T & O Surgery (25,075 patients).

ENT, Urology, General Medicine, Ophthalmology, Gynaecology and Gastroenterology specialties also had more than 5,000 patients on their waiting lists.

Since 31 March 2022, the ENT waiting list showed the largest growth (920 additional patients) and General Surgery showed the largest reduction (1,658 fewer patients).

Of specialties with at least 500 patients waiting, the greatest proportionate growth was in the Dermatology specialty, which grew by 20.2% (238 patients). The greatest proportionate reduction was in the Pain Management specialty, with 27.2% (519) fewer patients.

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

31 March 2023 compared with 31 March 2022

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

Median and 95th Percentile Waiting Times

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.

As at 31 March 2023, the median waiting time for all patients was 59.3 weeks (approximately 1 year and 7 weeks) and the 95th percentile was 268.3 weeks (approximately 5 years and 8 weeks).

Figure 3: Median and 95th Percentile Waiting Times

30 September 2017 to 31 March 2023

This line chart shows that the median waiting time has increased from 20.3 weeks at 31 March 2018 to 59.3 weeks at 31 March 2023, however this is a decrease from 69.9 weeks at 31 March 2022.

Across the same five year period, the 95th percentile has increased steadily from 101.3 weeks at 31 March 2018 to 268.3 weeks at 31 March 2023.

Waiting Times by Specialty

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 March 2023

The bar chart above shows the median and 95th percentile waiting times for specialties where at least 500 patients were waiting for admission at 31 March 2023. The longest median waiting time was 161.1 weeks in the Plastic Surgery specialty. ENT also had a median waiting time greater than 2 years, at 132.6 weeks.

One in twenty (5%) patients waiting for Plastic Surgery, ENT, Urology, Gynaecology or Trauma & Orthopaedics Surgery admissions had been waiting over 5 years.

Performance against Targets

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 March 2023

The line and stacked bar charts above illustrate the number and proportion of patients waiting less than 13 weeks at the end of each quarter between 30 June 2016 and 31 March 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 11.0% (11,103 of 100,826 patients) at 30 June 2020.

As at 31 March 2023, 22.6% of patients (27,574 of 121,879) were waiting less than 13 weeks, an increase from 18.7% (23,548 of 125,712) at 31 March 2022 and a decrease from 37.7% (30,342 of of 80,570) at 31 March 2018.

Figure 6: Patients Waiting Over 52 Week Target

30 June 2016 to 31 March 2023

The line and stacked bar charts above illustrate the number and proportion of patients waiting over 52 weeks at the end of each quarter between 30 June 2016 and 31 March 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 61.4% (70,564 of 114,950 patients) at 31 March 2021.

As at 31 March 2023, 52.9% of patients (64,513 of 121,879) were waiting longer than 52 weeks, a decrease from 56.4% (70,871 of 125,712) at 31 March 2022 and an increase from 20.4% (16,454 of 80,570) at 31 March 2018.

Performance by HSC Trust

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 March 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 16.9% and 40.5% of patients were waiting less than 13 weeks in each HSC Trust and between 36.9% and 60.8% were waiting longer than 52 weeks.

Inpatient and Day Case Activity

Admission data are fully validated once per year and, as such, provisional figures presented in this section do not hold National Statistics status.

Between January and March 2023, there were 45,463 admissions commissioned by the health service, of which 18.4% (8,357) were admitted to independent sector providers commissioned by the health service and the remaining 81.6% (37,106) treated within health service hospitals.

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

June 2011 to March 2023

The bar chart above indicates the number of patients admitted within each quarter between June 2011 and March 2023. The number of patients being admitted has increased steadily since quarter ending June 2020, and has returned to levels seen before that. The number of patients admitted in the quarter ending March 2023 is 4.1% (1,924 patients) lower compared to the quarter ending June 2011 and 2.4% (1,084 patients) higher than the quarter ending March 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

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 adjusted to commence on 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 waits will be counted in these statistics and also in the Department’s diagnostic waiting times statistics.

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 in CSV format to aid secondary analysis, at the following link: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-waiting-time-statistics-inpatient-and-day-case-waiting-times-march-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

National Statistics Logo
The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated 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.

National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.

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.

The statistics underwent a full assessment against the Code of Practice in 2011. Designation was awarded in March 2013.

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://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk

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