Big drop in hospital wait lists

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Health Minister Michael McGimpsey praises staff for their hard work

Hospital waiting lists have been cut drastically in the last year, Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has said.

The minister said the majority of targets were met, with "significant improvements" across the board.

Challenging targets for outpatient assessment, diagnostics and treatment had been met, he said.

"The improvement in A&E performance is perhaps the most remarkable - without any major new money, we have all but eliminated long trolley waits."

He said across Northern Ireland 92% of patients were waiting less than four hours in A&E units, according to figures at the end of March.

"This is a significant achievement which shows the real benefits of teams in trusts working with focus, sharing improved practice and cooperative working across the health and social care service," he said.

The minister said that two years ago, there were 110,000 people waiting more than 13 weeks for a first outpatient appointment, but this had been reduced to 55 at the end of last month.

'Remarkable'

In the same period, the number of patients waiting more than 21 weeks for surgery fell from 10,000 to just 56 people.

Ambulance response times have improved also in the past year - the number of emergency calls responded to within eight minutes rose from 55% in April 2007 to 68% in March 2008.

Mr McGimpsey also said that 74% of fractures were treated within 48 hours, compared to 51% in August last year.

"This is a remarkable achievement," he said.