Launch of new online tracker for specialist hospital appointment waiting times in Northern Ireland

The Department of Health says the new initiative has been developed to improve and centralise the information already publicly available to patients.

In this first phase, patients can find out the average waiting times for a first outpatients hospital appointment across the different clinical specialties in each Health and Social Care Trust area.

The webpage, known as My Waiting Times NI, will be expanded over time to also provide the latest waiting time information for procedures, treatment and diagnostics.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “Northern Ireland’s waiting lists are a result of years of sustained pressure with demand for care and treatment outstripping hospital capacity.

"Additional funding has been made available in recent years to support a range of waiting list initiatives and we were beginning to see some stabilisation of the situation. However, the current budget deficit means that this additional investment will be at a lower level this year. Regrettably, this will have an impact on waiting times.

"We are acutely aware of the consequences of waiting times for patients and their families. We also recognise the additional frustration when people do not have easily accessible information on how long they will have to wait. This new webpage should provide some clarity to patients, their families and carers.”

My Waiting Times NI is available at https://online.hscni.net/my-waiting-times-ni/ and the system will updated on the first Thursday of each month with the latest waiting time information.

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More information including frequently asked questions is available at https://online.hscni.net/my-waiting-times-ni/waiting-time-faqs/