Monthly waiting list figures - October 2025

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

The maximum waiting time targets set out in the 2017 Sláintecare report of 10 weeks for an outpatient appointment, and 12 weeks for an Inpatient or Day Case procedure, focus on the length of time patients are waiting rather than the number of patients on waiting lists. International bodies, including the World Health Organisation, 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 Waiting List Action Plan (WLAP) approach initiated in September 2021 is in line with the focus on waiting times, and the Waiting List Action Plan 2025, embodies the Government’s commitment to reducing waiting times for patients, thereby improving access to hospital care.

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 c. 55% or c.155,000 less patients waiting over 12 months since September 2021. In the same period, there was an improvement of c. 44% or 5.4 months in the weighted average wait time that patients across waiting lists have been waiting.

Notwithstanding the focus on improving waiting times, changes in waiting list volumes continue to be indicators of waiting list performance. The increases in waiting list volumes in the early part of the year represented an anticipated multi-annual trend arising from the winter surge in demand for unscheduled and emergency care and elevated levels of respiratory illness circulating. However, we have continued to see increases in waiting list volumes through the year.

The HSE anticipates that the increases in waiting list volumes will stabilise and performance will improve in the coming weeks. The Department will continue to drive improvements in waiting list performance through ongoing engagement with the HSE and NTPF. This will include engagement through the Waiting List Task Force, which is responsible for the governance and implementation of WLAP 2025. Through the Task Force, specific targeted actions and interventions are being implemented to ensure improved waiting list performance over the remainder of the year.

These measures build on and supplement existing actions being progressed, and include expediting full use of the South Dublin Surgical Hub and extending the range of specialties it covers, ensuring a greater number of patients are seen off the Outpatient waiting list by improving the New to Return ratio, and optimising the patient pathway through progressing implementation of centralised referrals and full utilisation of the national policies for patients who did not attend (DNA) and cannot attend (CNA).

A particular focus between now and year-end is to maximise all capacity delivered from these initiatives and direct this additional activity towards patients waiting over 12 months and those waiting longest for care.

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 Department is engaging with the HSE and NTPF to develop the action plan for 2026, building on the progress delivered to date, renewing the focus on improving waiting times for patients, and considering the learnings from the challenges that arose in 2025.

Notes

The multi-annual WLAP 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 OPD (Outpatient department) and 12 weeks for IPDC (Inpatient / Day Case) and Gastrointestinal (GI) Endoscopy (GI Scopes).

In keeping with this commitment, significant funding of €420 million was allocated to the WLAP 2025, encompassing €190 million for the HSE and €230 million for the NTPF.

The WLAP 2025 published on 12 February by the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill sets out 25 actions under the themes of “Delivering Capacity”, “Enabling Scheduled Care Reform” and “Reforming Scheduled Care”.