Northern Ireland waiting times, in the latest official figures: on 30 June 2026, 504,537 people were waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment, the median wait was 59.1 weeks, and 153,183 had waited more than two years. Another 81,223 were waiting for an operation or procedure as an inpatient or day case. Below are the official figures for each health and social care trust, including the Western Trust, from the Department of Health's latest quarterly release, and what you can do while you wait.
Short answer
On 30 June 2026, 504,537 people in Northern Ireland were waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment, with a median wait of 59.1 weeks; 53.7% had waited over a year and 153,183 over two years. 81,223 were waiting for inpatient or day case treatment (median 24.9 weeks). No trust met the target of half of patients seen within 9 weeks and nobody waiting over 52 weeks. Figures from the Department of Health, published 3 September 2026.
- Waiting for a first outpatient appointment
- 504,537 (median 59.1 weeks)
- Waiting over two years
- 153,183 outpatients
- Waiting for inpatient or day case treatment
- 81,223 (median 24.9 weeks)
- Western Trust
- 80,333 outpatients waiting; 24,654 over two years
- Period
- 30 June 2026, published 3 September 2026; quarterly
Northern Ireland waiting times: the latest figures
The Department of Health publishes waiting times for Northern Ireland every quarter. Its latest release, published on 3 September 2026, covers the position on 30 June 2026 (Department of Health outpatient bulletin):
- First outpatient appointment: 504,537 people waiting, 6,143 fewer than three months earlier. The median wait was 59.1 weeks, down from 60.1.
- Over a year: 270,731 people (53.7%) had waited more than 52 weeks for a first appointment.
- Over two years: 153,183 people had waited more than 104 weeks, and 95% of waits were shorter than 282.6 weeks: more than five years.
- Inpatient and day case: 81,223 people waiting for admission, with a median wait of 24.9 weeks, down from 26.1 (Department of Health inpatient bulletin).
The outpatient figures count people waiting for a first appointment with a hospital consultant. They do not include people waiting for ICATS, the assessment and treatment services run by other professionals, which the department reports separately, or for diagnostic tests. Since the encompass record system replaced the old ones in every trust, the figures are labelled official statistics in development, and the department says Belfast, Southern and Western data may include a small share of duplicate records.
Waiting times by health trust
Northern Ireland has five health and social care trusts, plus regional day case procedure centres that the department reports separately. These are our sums from the department's trust-level tables for 30 June 2026; together they match its regional totals.
“Seen within 9 weeks” is the share of people still waiting who had waited 9 weeks or less. Source: outpatient and inpatient and day case tables, Department of Health, read 5 November 2026.
Every trust is far from the target. Between 13.6% and 16.1% of the people on each trust's outpatient list had waited 9 weeks or less, against a target of half. For outpatients, the South Eastern Trust had the largest share waiting over two years (32.2%). The day case procedure centres, which do routine operations for the whole region, had 66.3% of their outpatient list waiting over a year.
Western Trust waiting times
On 30 June 2026, 80,333 people were waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment in the Western Trust, which covers the west of the province. 42,249 of them (52.6%) had waited more than a year and 24,654 more than two years. Another 15,489 were waiting for inpatient or day case treatment, 5,923 of them for more than a year: after Belfast, the most of any trust.
The largest outpatient lists in the Western Trust were ear, nose and throat (11,191), gynaecology (9,768), orthopaedics (8,644), general surgery (8,167), gastroenterology (7,452). Some local news reports have quoted higher figures for the trust. We could not match them to the June 2026 release, which is the latest the department has published, so we use the official tables; the next quarter will update these numbers.
The waiting time target, and how far off it is
The department measures trusts against a draft target 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. It was introduced in 2016/17. On 30 June 2026, 85.2% of people waiting (430,008) had waited more than 9 weeks, and 53.7% more than 52 weeks; the department says no trust met either part (Department of Health). It has suspended trend comparisons against the target while the encompass figures remain in development.
England measures something different: the time from referral to treatment, with a standard of 92% within 18 weeks. Scotland and Wales have their own measures too, so the four nations cannot be ranked on one number. Our NHS waiting list tracker puts each nation's latest figures side by side with what they measure, and Scotland waiting times covers the Scottish figures.
What you can do while you wait
- Ask for your expected dateContact the hospital or trust that holds your referral and ask where you are on the list and whether it is marked urgent.
- Tell your GP if things changeIf your symptoms get worse, your GP can ask the hospital to review the urgency of your referral.
- Price private treatmentAsk for a written self-pay quote that names what is included, from the first consultation to follow-up.
- Compare treatment abroadFor common operations, published hospital prices abroad can be lower even with travel; compare them with the wait you face.
For operations with long waits, such as hip replacements and cataract surgery, our pages compare the published price abroad with travel against the wait at home: hip replacement waiting time vs going private or abroad and cataract surgery abroad. Those pages use England's figures for the wait; Northern Ireland's are longer.