£80m ringfenced for most critical hospital waiting lists

More money has been announced to tackle Northern Ireland's hospital waiting lists.

According to the health minister, £80m will be ringfenced to help reduce the longest and most critical waiting times over the next 12 months.

It forms part of the executive's programme for government commitment to cut health red flag and critical waiting lists.

"Reducing waiting times and improving access to care are among my sharpest areas of focus as health minister and central to the executive's programme for government commitment to do what matters most for people across Northern Ireland, " said Mike Nesbitt.

Details of how the funding will be allocated across health and social care services in 2026/27 to support waiting list reductions will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

BBC News NI understands that the money is part of the draft budget. While it hasn't been agreed by the political parties, there was consensus to push this money through to help those on waiting lists.

Northern Ireland hospital waiting lists remain at record highs, with over 500,000 patients awaiting consultant appointments and over 55% waiting longer than a year.

Last July, and for the first time, the minister appointed a health professional to directly tackle the problem.

At the time Professor Mark Taylor, a senior surgeon, acknowledged it would be a "long-term challenge" but said he would work "tirelessly" with his health service colleagues to turn things around.

This latest funding initiative was made during a visit to the Mater Hospital's Elective Overnight Stay Centre (EOSC) in Belfast.

Nesbitt said that "real progress is being made and waiting lists in time critical and red flag areas are falling, capacity is increasing, and staff are delivering in exceptionally difficult circumstances".

Against the backdrop of the EOSC, which was opened in November 2022, Nesbitt said work to date had helped in eliminating waits of more than four years for procedures such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy, colonoscopy and tonsillectomy and in hernia surgery.

The minister paid tribute to staff at the Mater and across the health and social care system whom he said have shown ambition and commitment in helping reduce waiting times.

Tara McClinton, interim director of anaesthetics, critical care, theatres and sterile services at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, said the EOSC had made an important contribution to reducing long waits for surgery, working with theatre teams to "release capacity for more complex patients across the wider hospital system".