Accredited Official Statistics

All statistics contained within this publication are Accredited Official Statistics except for outpatient activity statistics.

Published by: Information & Analysis Directorate, Department of Health
Statisticians: Brian Reilly, Thomas Cash & Heidi Rodgers
Contact:

Reporting Date: 30 September 2025
Publication Date: 4 December 2025
The next quarterly publication is scheduled for 4 March 2026. Latest updates to all DoH statistical releases can be found here Statistical releases calendar | Department of Health

Coverage: Northern Ireland
Frequency: Quarterly

On 9 November 2023 the South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust launched ‘encompass’ - a new electronic patient record system. The system also went live in Belfast Trust on 6 June 2024, in Northern Trust on 7 November 2024, and in Southern and Western Trusts on 8 May 2025. Disaggregated data for Belfast for quarters ending June and September 2024; data for Northern for quarter ending December 2024 and disaggregated data for quarter ending March 2025; and data for Southern and Western Trusts for quarter ending June 2025, are not currently available.

Figures sourced from encompass are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’, which are a subset of Official Statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. While caution must be exercised when using these figures and they are not directly comparable with legacy (pre-encompass) data, they are a meaningful representation of what they measure and are of sufficient quality for publication and use.


This statistical release presents information on waiting times for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment in Northern Ireland and reports on the performance of the Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts against the draft waiting times target, which states that:

“50% of patients should wait no longer than nine weeks for a first outpatient appointment; with no patient waiting longer than 52 weeks.”

All of the data contained in this release are published in Excel file format to facilitate secondary analysis. They are available at the following link:

https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-waiting-time-statistics-outpatient-waiting-times-september-2025

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

First Consultant-led Outpatient Appointment Waiting Times

Figures sourced from encompass are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures. Data for Belfast and Southern Trusts may include duplicate records that could not be validated by the Trusts in time for publication, which could affect up to c. 0.1% and c. 0.5%, respectively, of the total figures for these Trusts.

Community Paediatrics data sourced from encompass are currently under review and are higher than in previous quarters.

  • 542,451 patients were waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment at hospitals in Northern Ireland on 30 September 2025.

  • 48.1% of patients were waiting for an appointment under the ENT, Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, General Surgery or Dermatology specialties.

  • The median waiting time was 64.1 weeks and the 95th percentile waiting time was 305.6 weeks.

  • 86.4% (468,485) of patients were waiting more than nine weeks for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment on 30 September 2025.

  • 55.6% (301,753) of patients were waiting more than 52 weeks for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment on 30 September 2025.

Outpatient Waiting List

Figures sourced from encompass are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures. While not directly comparable, the previously published time series which includes legacy (pre-encompass) data for all Trusts up to 30 September 2023 has been included in Figure 1 to provide context.

As at 30 September 2025, there were 542,451 patients waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment at hospitals in the five Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland.


Figure 1: Patients Waiting for a First Consultant-led Outpatient Appointment

30 June 2008 to 30 September 2025

Note: The grey box indicates the time period when HSC Trusts transitioned to the encompass patient record system. encompass and legacy (pre-encompass) figures are not directly comparable.

The line chart shows that the number of patients waiting rose steadily from 99,774 on 31 March 2013 to 428,858 on 30 September 2023, the last quarter when all Trusts figures were sourced from the legacy (pre-encompass) system. Some 542,451 patients were waiting on 30 September 2025, which is the first quarter following the encompass transition period for which validated data for all five HSC Trusts are available.

Waiting List by Specialty

Figures sourced from encompass are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures.

At 30 September 2025, the largest waiting lists in Northern Ireland were for ENT (60,433 patients) and Gynaecology (54,710 patients).


Figure 2: Patients Waiting for a First Consultant-led Outpatient Appointment by Specialty

30 September 2025

The bar chart above shows the number of patients waiting for an appointment in each specialty as at 30 September 2025. Only specialties with at least 5,000 patients waiting are shown.

Note that the specialty classification used in encompass differs significantly from that of the legacy system. Therefore, specialties are not directly comparable with pre-encompass data.

Median and 95th Percentile Waiting Times

Figures sourced from encompass are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures.

Exclusions From This Analysis

For the legacy (pre-encompass) data, Paediatrics, Genito-Urinary Medicine, Learning Disability and Old Age Psychiatry specialties are not included in the analysis due to limited data availability.

Information required to produce this analysis is not available prior to 30 June 2020.

For the encompass data, the Paediatric Medicine, Genito-Urinary Medicine, Learning Disability, Old Age Psychiatry specialties are not included in the analysis.


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 waiting time that 95% of patient waiting times are less than. One in twenty patients i.e. 5%, 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.

At 30 September 2025, the median waiting time for a first outpatient appointment in Northern Ireland was 64.1 weeks (approximately 1 year and 12 weeks) and the 95th percentile was 305.6 weeks (approximately 5 years and 45 weeks).


Figure 3: Median and 95th Percentile Waiting Times in Northern Ireland

30 June 2020 to 30 September 2025

Note: The grey box indicates the time period when HSC Trusts transitioned to the encompass patient record system. encompass and legacy (pre-encompass) figures are not directly comparable.”

The solid line in Figure 3 shows that the median waiting time was 43.9 weeks at 30 June 2020 and was 51.4 weeks at 30 September 2023, the last quarter for which all data were sourced from legacy (pre-encompass) systems. It was 64.1 weeks at 30 September 2025, which is the first quarter following the encompass transition period for which validated data for all five HSC Trusts are available.

The broken line shows that the 95th percentile waiting time increased steadily from 164.7 weeks at 30 June 2020 to 257.6 weeks at 30 September 2023. It was 305.6 weeks at 30 September 2025.

Waiting Times by Specialty

Figures sourced from encompass are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures.

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 Times by Specialty

30 September 2025

The bar chart above shows the median and 95th percentile waiting times in Northern Ireland for specialties where at least 5,000 patients were waiting for appointments at 30 September 2025.

Note that the specialty classification used in encompass differs significantly from that of the legacy system. Therefore, specialties are not directly comparable with pre-encompass data.

Performance against Targets

The waiting times target states that 50% of patients should wait no longer than 9 weeks for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment; with no patient waiting longer than 52 weeks. This target was introduced in 2016/17. On 30 September 2025, the target of 50% of patients waiting less than 9 weeks was not achieved, with 86.4% waiting over 9 weeks (468,485 of 542,451 patients). At the same time, the target of no patients waiting longer than 52 weeks was also not achieved, with 55.6% (301,753 of 542,451 patients) having waited longer than 52 weeks.

Please note that trend information regarding performance against targets is temporarily suspended due to the rollout of encompass.

Trend information derived using pre-encompass (legacy) data sources for performance against targets are included in the publication for quarter ending 31 March 2025, and earlier publications.

Performance by HSC Trust

Figures sourced from encompass are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’. Therefore, caution must be exercised when using these figures.

Draft target: 50% of patients should wait no longer than 9 weeks and no patient should wait longer than 52 weeks for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment.

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 5: Waiting Times by HSC Trust and Day Case Procedure Centres in Northern Ireland

30 September 2025

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 50% of patients waiting less than 9 weeks, nor the target to have no patients waiting longer than 52 weeks.

Outpatient Activity

Please note that in the quarterly waiting time statistics publications for quarter ending 31 March 2025 and subsequent quarters, provisional outpatient attendance data that have historically been included will be suspended. Validated hospital activity information will continue to be published as Accredited Official Statistics at Hospital activity statistics.

ICATS Waiting List

Figures sourced from encompass are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’. They are not directly comparable with legacy (pre-encompass) data and caution must be exercised when using these figures.

Integrated Clinical Assessment and Treatment Services (ICATS) are outpatient services provided by multi-disciplinary teams of health service professionals in all five HSC Trusts. They provide assessment, treatment and advisory services in a variety of primary, community and secondary care settings. Patients who do not require urgent treatment are referred to ICATS teams, if the patient’s condition requires the attention of a consultant, arrangements are made for the patient to be referred for a hospital outpatient appointment.

As ICATS services are not consultant-led, patients waiting for an ICATS appointment are not included in the statistics for consultant-led outpatient services presented in the sections above.


At 30 September 2025, there were 37,512 patients waiting for a first ICATS outpatient appointment.


Figure 6: Patients Waiting for a First ICATS Outpatient Appointment

30 June 2011 to 30 September 2025

This line chart shows that the number of patients waiting for a first ICATS outpatient appointment rose steadily from 6,134 on 30 June 2011 to 37,512 on 30 September 2025.

Data Sources, Quality and Guidance

Data sources
The sources for the data contained in this release are the HSC Trust’s Patient Administration Systems, encompass, the DoH Outpatient Waiting Times Dataset and the DoH CH3, QOAR, R-QOAR, V-QOAR and IS1 returns.


First consultant-led outpatient appointment
An outpatient appointment is to enable a patient to see a consultant or a member of their team following an outpatient referral. The majority of referrals will be from a GP however they may also be received from a range of other sources.

These appointments provide an opportunity for consultation, investigation and minor treatment. Appointments can be face-to-face or virtual and patients are not admitted into hospital.

A first attendance is the first of a series or the only attendance at an outpatient service.


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 for a first outpatient appointment begins on the date the HSC Trust receives a referral to a consultant-led service.

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 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 6-9 week time band.


Reporting patients against Health and Social Care Trusts
A number of services may not be provided at a patient’s local HSC Trust, and instead are provided as centralised services for Northern Ireland.

As patients are reported against the HSC Trust responsible for the service to which they have been referred, users should be aware of this when making comparisons across Trusts.

In some cases a consultant from one HSC Trust may provide a “visiting” service at another HSC Trust, and so the patient may not be reported at the HSC Trust at which they attend. 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 an outpatient appointment at 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 appointment due to having multiple conditions. Such patients are counted more than once depending on how many times they are waiting.


Patients resident outside Northern Ireland and private patients
Statistics on patients waiting for outpatient appointments include patients living outside Northern Ireland and privately funded patients waiting for treatment in Health Service hospitals in Northern Ireland.


Outpatient activity
Provisional statistics on outpatient activity are usually presented to provide contextual information in relation to waiting lists, but have been suspended since quarter end March 2025. Hospital data are sourced from the HSC Trusts and Independent Sector data are provided by the Strategic Planning and Performance Group in the Department of Health.

These data are not Accredited Official 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 outpatient activity do not include:
• ICATS appointments
• Ward attenders


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/outpatient-waiting-times 


Additional Information and Data

Data from this publication
Data detailed in this publication are available in Excel file format to aid secondary analysis.

Excel files are available to download at the following link: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-waiting-time-statistics-outpatient-waiting-times-september-2025


Other waiting times publications
Statistics on waiting times for inpatients, 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


Accredited Official 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, as the producer, to maintain compliance with the standards expected of Accredited Official Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the OSR promptly. Accredited Official Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained and reinstated when standards are restored.

In November 2021, the OSR conducted a compliance check on these statistics and confirmed that they should continue to be labelled as ‘Accredited Official Statistics’. Further details can be found at: https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/mark-pont-to-eugene-mooney-Northern-ireland-ni-outpatient-waiting-time-statistics/

In May 2022, the OSR extended the accredited official statistics designation to include Day Case Procedure Centre waiting times statistics.

Since the assessments by the OSR, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Find out more about the Code of Practice for Statistics at: https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/.

Find out more about Official Statistics at: https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system/types-of-official-statistics/.


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