The HSE waiting list is really several lists, and the headline you read depends on which ones are added up. At the end of September 2026, the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) counted 692,524 people waiting for a first hospital outpatient appointment, 114,722 waiting for inpatient or day-case treatment and 43,285 waiting for a GI endoscopy: 850,531 in all. Add the people who already have a date, those booked for follow-up treatment and those suspended, and the total is 1,040,698, the "over a million" figure in the news.
Short answer
At the end of September 2026, 850,531 people were on Ireland's three active public hospital waiting lists (692,524 outpatient, 114,722 inpatient and day case, 43,285 GI endoscopy), according to the NTPF. About 41.2% of outpatients and 41.0% of people waiting for surgery had waited more than six months. The next figures are due in November 2026.
- First outpatient appointment
- 692,524 waiting; 124,704 over 12 months
- Inpatient or day-case treatment
- 114,722 waiting; 20,682 over 12 months
- GI endoscopy
- 43,285 waiting; 4,182 over 12 months
- All NTPF lists added together
- 1,040,698 (our sum, including dated, planned and suspended patients)
The HSE waiting list, list by list
The NTPF publishes three active lists, for people still waiting to be seen or treated, and three other categories. This is how each stood at the end of September 2026, from its release published in October:
| List | People | What it counts |
|---|---|---|
| Outpatient | 692,524 | Waiting for a first hospital outpatient consultation |
| Inpatient and day case | 114,722 | Waiting for an appointment for surgery or a procedure |
| GI endoscopy | 43,285 | Waiting for a colonoscopy, gastroscopy or similar |
| Active lists together | 850,531 | Our sum of the three lists above |
| Pre-admit | 35,273 | Already given a date for their procedure |
| Planned procedure | 114,422 | Already treated, needing more treatment later; 80,131 have a future date or appointment |
| Suspended | 40,472 | Temporarily unfit or unable to attend, or being treated through insourcing or outsourcing |
| Everything added | 1,040,698 | Our sum of all six |
NTPF press release for September 2026, read 30 October 2026. The NTPF says clinicians set the indicative dates on the planned procedure list, and treatment before those dates would not be appropriate, which is why that list is not a queue in the usual sense.
So when a headline says more than a million people are on HSE waiting lists, it is adding people who already have a date and people booked for routine follow-up. The number that tells you how long a new patient waits is the active list, and above all how long people on it have been waiting.
How long people have been waiting
The NTPF's open-data files split each list into time bands. Adding adults and children together, this is the change since the end of January:
| List | Waiting, Jan | Waiting, Sep | Over 6 months, Sep | Over 12 months, Sep | Over 18 months, Sep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outpatient (first appointment) | 631,607 | 692,526 | 285,354 (41.2%) | 124,704Jan: 105,647 | 53,456 |
| Inpatient and day case | 112,026 | 114,724 | 47,047 (41.0%) | 20,682Jan: 18,717 | 9,810 |
| GI endoscopy | 36,182 | 43,288 | 12,879 (29.8%) | 4,182Jan: 975 | 809 |
Sums of the NTPF open-data rows for 29 January and 24 September 2026; they come to within 3 patients of the headline counts.
All three lists grew between January and September. The outpatient list grew by 60,919, and the number who had waited over a year for a first appointment rose from 105,647 to 124,704. The endoscopy list changed most in shape: people waiting more than a year went from 975 to 4,182.
Which specialties have the longest lists
Most people waiting are waiting to be seen, not yet to be operated on. The largest outpatient lists at the end of September 2026:
- Orthopaedics: 85,258 waiting for a first appointment, 16,596 (19.5%) for over 12 months.
- Dermatology: 62,846 waiting for a first appointment, 17,435 (27.7%) for over 12 months.
- Cardiology: 46,535 waiting for a first appointment, 7,550 (16.2%) for over 12 months.
- Ear, nose and throat: 46,274 waiting for a first appointment, 5,356 (11.6%) for over 12 months.
- Ophthalmology: 45,902 waiting for a first appointment, 12,144 (26.5%) for over 12 months.
And the largest lists for inpatient or day-case treatment:
- General surgery: 17,578 waiting, 3,328 (18.9%) over 12 months.
- Ophthalmology: 15,094 waiting, 3,044 (20.2%) over 12 months.
- Orthopaedics: 15,063 waiting, 1,885 (12.5%) over 12 months.
- Urology: 11,909 waiting, 1,511 (12.7%) over 12 months.
- Plastic surgery: 8,421 waiting, 2,214 (26.3%) over 12 months.
Orthopaedics and ophthalmology cover hip and knee replacement and cataract surgery, but the NTPF does not publish a list for each operation. Our pages on the HSE hip replacement waiting time, knee replacement wait in Ireland and cataract surgery wait in Ireland use the specialty figures and put them next to private prices in Ireland and abroad.
The Waiting Time Action Plan 2026
The government's plan for this year was published by the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, on 30 January 2026. It was renamed from the Waiting List Action Plan to the Waiting Time Action Plan and sets out 36 actions to reduce waiting times, focused on existing resources, innovation and digital tools, the NTPF says. We could not read the Department of Health's own pages from our location, so we do not quote its targets here.
Hospitals are also under pressure from emergency care. The HSE recorded 599 patients on trolleys on the morning of 28 October and said the public service work-to-rule continued to have a significant impact on service delivery, as reported by the Irish Medical Times. If you are on a list for a planned operation, ask the hospital to confirm your date in writing.
If you have been waiting a long time
- Check your place. Ask the hospital where you are on its list and whether you are an active, pre-admit or suspended patient: suspended patients are not counted on the active lists.
- Ask about outsourcing. The NTPF says the suspended category is also used for patients being treated through insourcing or outsourcing initiatives, so ask whether your hospital is sending patients elsewhere.
- Ask whether the HSE will pay abroad. The HSE Treatment Abroad Scheme and Cross Border Directive can pay for care in Europe, with conditions and, for the directive, a long wait for repayment.
- Compare paying yourself. Private prices in Ireland and in each country we track are on treatment abroad from Ireland.
The NTPF publishes new figures each month; we will update this page when the October numbers appear in November.