Figures on waiting times within the NHS in Northern Ireland up to the end of March showed no improvement on previous data with Health Minister, Robin Swann, warning that things will get even worse saying “that the figures for the next quarter, when published, will make even more depressing reading.”

The figures released recently covered the first quarter of 2020, with only the last two weeks overlapping with changes to hospital services due to Covid-19. 11 of the other 13 weeks of reporting occurred before Covid-19 took a grip and it is expected that figures for the next quarter will be significantly worse given the impact of Covid-19 on the health service as a whole.

Northern Ireland was already the worst performing region in the UK when it came to waiting times for both inpatient and outpatient procedures, and cancer waiting times and Minister Swann warned that the “system was broken” and that it needed to be “rebuilt”. Views he has reiterated this week.

The Western Trust was the second worst performing trust with respect to inpatient waiting times, while it was the best performing of the five trusts when it came to the reporting of diagnostic tests.

For the first three months of the year in the Western Trust, 72.3 per cent of patients were waiting longer than the target 13 weeks for inpatient/day case treatment. 33.8 per cent were waiting longer than one year in the same category. Only Belfast Trust performed worse with 78.4 per cent of patients waiting longer than 13 weeks and 41.2 per cent waiting longer than 52 weeks.

However, the Department pointed out in its report that as the Belfast Trust takes patients from all over Northern Ireland for many procedures, their figures were negatively skewed compared to other Trust areas.

The Northern Trust and South Eastern Trust had significantly less patients waiting more than 13 weeks with 59.7 per cent and 54.5 per cent respectively waiting over that period of time.

In terms of outpatient waiting times there was a much more consistent picture across the five Trust areas with no trust coming close to reaching the target of 50 per cent of patients waiting no longer than nine weeks for an outpatient performance.

Only eight per cent separated the worst performing Trust, Belfast at 84 per cent and the best performing Trust, the Southern Trust at 76.5 per cent. The Western Trust, as of March had 77.8 per cent of patients waiting longer than nine weeks for an outpatient appointment.

In terms of cancer waiting times across Northern Ireland there is one figure that is sure to cause alarm. In the past two years the percentage of people across Northern Ireland who have started their cancer treatment within 62 days of referral has dropped by almost 20 per cent from 67.1 per cent in Jan 2017 to 49.9 per cent in December 2019.

Minister Swann said it would not be good enough to see the figures return to a point before Covid-19 :“For those who think or call for a return to where we were at the start of January, I simply say we cannot go there. The system was broken and struggling then so simply returning to the same place would be a disservice not just to those who are waiting but to all those who have worked so hard in the last few weeks,” he said before adding that he was aware of the scale of the challenge that waiting lists posed.

“But, just as there was no doubt about scale of the challenge before Coronavirus, equally no one can be in any doubt that a quick fix is simply not realistic. Successfully attacking these waiting times will take time and money, and can only be achieved if additional long term funding is made available – such funding must be over and above that needed to run existing services.

“I have been very clear on this point since taking up post. Even with significant additional investment, the task of putting this right will be immensely challenging,” the Minister said.