Longer waiting times in Northern Ireland than in rest of UK deemed “unacceptable”

Over 100 000 patients in Northern Ireland have waited more than a year for hospital treatment, official figures show.

The latest waiting time statistics from Northern Ireland’s Department of Health show that more than 18 000 patients have waited more than a year for inpatient treatment and that almost 88 600 have waited more than a year for an outpatient appointment.1

The Royal College of Surgeons said that the proportion of long waits was substantially worse than in the rest of the UK and called …