Technical Notes

The sources for the data contained in this release are the DoH CH3, CH3-R Returns and the DoH Outpatient Waiting Times Dataset. These returns collect information from Health and Social Care Trusts on a quarterly basis.

The ‘Outpatient Waiting Times Publication – Supporting Documentation’ booklet details the technical guidance and definitions used, as well as notes on how to use the data contained within this statistical release. This booklet is available to view or download from: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/outpatient-waiting-times.

All of the data contained in the tables are available on a quarterly basis and can be supplied by individual specialty or Provider HSC Trust if this level of detail is required. In addition, quarterly data relating to waiting times for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment have been published in spreadsheet format (CSV), split by HSC Trust, Specialty and Programme of Care, in order to aid secondary analysis. These data are available at https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-waiting-time-statistics-outpatient-waiting-times-December-2021.

Information includes patients living outside Northern Ireland and privately funded patients waiting for treatment in Health Service hospitals in Northern Ireland.

Outpatient waiters are defined as patients still waiting for their first outpatient appointment at the end of the quarter, including those who have cancelled or missed a previous appointment. An outpatient appointment is to enable a patient to see a consultant, a member of their team or locum for such a member, in respect of one referral. Waiting time for a first outpatient appointment begins on the date the HSC Trust receives a referral for a first outpatient appointment and ends on the date a patient attends a first outpatient appointment. Patients who cannot attend (CNA) have their waiting time adjusted to commence on the date they informed the HSC Trust they could not attend, while patients who do not attend (DNA) have their waiting time adjusted to commence on the date of their DNA.

Each outpatient waiting time band relates to the number of completed weeks a patient has been waiting for outpatient assessment. For example, a patient waiting exactly 6 weeks would be included in the 0-6 week time band and a patient waiting 6 weeks and 1 day would be included in the >6-9 (greater than 6 weeks but waiting no longer than 9 weeks) time band. The Ministerial target, for outpatient waiting times, as set out in the Health and Social Care (Commissioning Plan) Direction states that by March 2021, 50% of patients should wait no longer than nine weeks for a first outpatient appointment, with no patient waiting longer than 52 weeks.

Some people will be waiting on more than one waiting list or be on the waiting list for more than one outpatient appointment/admission/diagnostic test at the same time due to having more than one condition.

A number of outpatient services may not be provided at a patient’s local HSC Trust or at each of the five HSC Trusts, and instead are provided as centralised services for Northern Ireland. In such circumstances, patients from one HSC Trust area will be waiting to be seen at a service provided at another HSC Trust. In some cases a consultant from one HSC Trust may provide a ‘visiting’ service at another HSC Trust, and so the patient may not be reported at the HSC Trust at which they attend. Users should therefore be cautious in how they use these data. For example, they should not be used to calculate the total number of patients waiting per head of the population residing within each Trust area, as HSC Trusts that provide services for the whole of Northern Ireland will have a higher number of patients waiting per head of the population than those that provide more localised services. Neither should the actual number of patients waiting longer than the recommended waiting time be used as indicator of poor performance within an individual HSC Trust. Users who require an indication of the latter are advised to refer to the commentary section of the publication which provides an indication of the percentage of total waiters that have been waiting over the maximum recommended waiting times, within each HSC Trust.

In February 2019, prototype ‘Day Case Procedure Centres’ (DPCs) became operational for the surgical outpatient treatment of Cataracts. Patients waiting for this procedure can now be referred to a DPC for treatment rather than attend the hospital site they may have been referred to previously.

The total number of completed outpatient waits each quarter, within HSC hospitals, is derived as the total number of attendances at a first outpatient appointment from the Departmental Quarterly Outpatient Activity Return (QOAR) and the Regional Quarterly Outpatient Activity Return (R-QOAR).

The number of patients who received an outpatient assessment, commissioned by the Health Service, in the Independent Sector is collected on the IS1 Part 1 Return. These figures are provided by the HSC Board. They are published for each transferring Health and Social Care Trust (Trust responsible for the patient’s waiting time). They are not National Statistics and they have not been validated by the Department; however, they have been included to provide users with a comprehensive view of completed outpatient waits during each quarter.

Figures relating to outpatient waiting times for the quarter ending 31st March 2022 will be released on Thursday 26th May 2022.

Reader Information

Purpose: This statistical release presents information on waiting times for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment in Northern Ireland and reports on the performance of the Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts against the 2020/21 Draft Ministerial waiting time target, which states that:

“By March 2022, 50% of patients should wait no longer than 9 weeks for a first outpatient appointment; with no patient waiting longer than 52 weeks.”

This statistical release details information on the number of patients waiting, and length of time waiting, for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment in HSC Trusts at 31st March 2021 (including patients waiting to be seen at a Day Case Procedure Centre (DPC)). It also includes activity for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment commissioned by the Health Service during the quarter ending March 2021. Data are presented by HSC Trust, specialty and time band. Information on Integrated Clinical Assessment and Treatment Services (ICATS) waiting times are available in the accompanying CSV file.

Statistical Quality: The ‘Outpatient Waiting Times Publication – Supporting Documentation’ booklet details the technical guidance and definitions used, as well as notes on how to use the data contained within this statistical release. This booklet is available to view or download from: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/outpatient-waiting-times-supporting-documentation.

Internet: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/outpatient-waiting-times

Authors: Jenny Finlay, Ben Simpson, Siobhán Morgan

Publication Date: Thursday 24th February 2022

Reporting Period: 1st October – 31st December 2021

Issued by: Hospital Information Branch Information & Analysis Directorate Department of Health Stormont Estate, Belfast, BT4 3SQ

Contact Information and further copies: statistics@health-ni.gov.uk

Target Audience: Department of Health (DoH), Chief Executives of the HSC Board and Trusts in Northern Ireland, health care professionals, Health & Social Care stakeholders, academics, the media and the general public.

Price: Free

Copyright: This publication is Crown copyright and may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium. Any material used must be acknowledged, and the title of the publication specified.

National Statistics

National Statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value, and it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards.

The statistics last underwent a full assessment against the Code of Practice in 2011 and designation was awarded in December 2013.

Since the assessment by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

In November 2021, the Office for Statistics Regulation conducted a compliance check on these statistics and confirmed that they should continue to be designated as National Statistics. Further details can be found at: https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/mark-pont-to-eugene-mooney-northern-ireland-ni-outpatient-waiting-time-statistics/.

Options to interact with the charts are available in the top right corner when you hover over each chart. Each chart will have a number of optional functionality built in, including:

Hovering over a chart line or column will display the values for that month/quarter. In addition to this, if you select the icon with 2 horizontal lines in the charts pop-up toolbar, and then hover over the chart, it will display the values for each line for each month/quarter. To remove the option to view data for all lines, select the single horizontal line on the pop-up too-bar.

By highlighting a specific area of the chart, i.e. March 2020 to September 2021, will change the view of the chart to only present the data for that selected period. To view the entire chart again, simply double click anywhere on the chart.

On the pop-up toolbar, there is a snapshot function to allow users to take a snapshot of the chart or selected months, that can then be used as a static image.

On the pop-up toolbar, the spike function enables users to hover over a line and it will display a line parallel with both the x and y axis, that shows the x and y axis value at the point on the line you have focused on.