Monthly waiting list figures - February 2026

The latest hospital waiting list figures for February 2026 were published today by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

The multi-annual Action Plan approach initiated in September 2021 is focussed on improving waiting times for patients, and the Waiting Time Action Plan (WTAP) 2026, published by Minister Carroll MacNeill on 30 January 2026 embodies the Government’s commitment to reducing waiting times for patients, thereby improving access to hospital care.

The 2026 Plan acts as a key enabler for each of the Health Service Executive (HSE) Regions to improve planned care delivery. Under the reformed health service structures, HSE Regional Executive Officers have a key leadership role to drive and oversee the necessary productivity and performance improvements across each Region, including through increasing efficiencies and reducing regional variation (e.g. via shared learning) and ultimately increasing access to scheduled care across the health service.

The health service has seen significant progress in reducing the length of time patients are waiting under the multi-annual Action Plan approach, including a reduction of circa 55% or circa155,000 less patients waiting over 12 months since September 2021. In the same period there was an improvement of circa 43% or 5.3 months in the Weighted Average Wait Time (WAWT) that patients across lists have been waiting.

Notwithstanding these longer-term improvements, waiting lists more recently have been impacted by the ongoing trend of higher demand and increased referrals, which has offset the significantly increased levels of activity that are being delivered in acute hospitals.

Signs of progress in waiting list performance seen towards the end of last year, have not continued into 2026, having been impacted by the anticipated multi-annual trend arising from the winter surge in demand for unscheduled and emergency care.

The Department will continue to work to improve waiting list performance through ongoing engagement with the HSE and the NTPF. This will include engagement through the Waiting List Task Force, which is responsible for the governance and implementation of WTAP 2026.

Scheduled care demand has grown significantly over recent years, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and demographic expectations. While the health service does not wish to see a growth in numbers waiting for care, growth in the number of referrals to our hospital services has a positive aspect in that it is indicative of people accessing the services that they need, an increased awareness of services and reflects an expansion of services.

The multi-annual Action Plan approach was initiated in September 2021 to sustainably reduce and reform hospital waiting lists and waiting times.

The government is committed to further reduce waiting times, targeting all patients to be seen within the Sláintecare target of 10 weeks for Out Patient Department (OPD) and 12 weeks for In Patient Day Cases (IPDC) and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (GI Scopes).

International bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), have emphasised that waiting time is a more important metric than total waiting list numbers in assessing the performance of a health service. Reducing waiting times brings a number of benefits from a patient perspective, including mitigating the risk of conditions worsening and leading to poorer health outcomes, and improving patient satisfaction in care provision.

The Department of Health, the HSE and the NTPF worked closely together to develop the specific actions and targets set out in this year’s Action Plan. The WTAP 2026 sets out 36 actions under the three themes of “Reforming Planned Care”, “Enabling Planned Care” and “Capacity Optimisation.

The maximum waiting time targets set out in the 2017 Sláintecare report of 10 weeks for an OPD appointment, and 12 weeks for an IPDC procedure, focus on the length of time patients are waiting rather than the number of patients on waiting lists.

Notwithstanding the focus on improving waiting times in WTAP 2026, changes in waiting list volumes continue to be important indicators of waiting list performance.