Waiting list initiatives in NI: NICON webinar report
9 June 2025
Summary of discussions at NICON's recent webinar on the new initiatives to reduce waiting lists in Northern Ireland.
Delivery and performance
Background
Northern Ireland has the longest waiting lists in the UK. Tackling the backlog is a major priority under NI’s current Programme for Government (PfG). In May 2025, the NI Health Minister announced a series of waiting list initiatives.
On 5 June 2025, NICON held a webinar on these new initiatives for our members. Panellists included two senior officials from the NI Department of Health (DoH), Tomas Adell, Director of Elective Care and Cancer Policy, and Lisa McWilliams, Director of Strategic Performance, who presented on the updated Elective Care Framework Funding and Implementation Plan for Northern Ireland, noting how it fits into the wider strategic framework.
Key points
- Addressing Northern Ireland’s waiting lists, the longest in the UK, is a key Programme for Government (PfG) priority in Northern Ireland. Governmental strategies for reform seek to address systemic demand-capacity gaps through structural reform, service redesign, and targeted financial investment.
- The new waiting list initiatives and updated Elective Care Framework Implementation and Funding Plan (all announced in May 2025) set out three areas of investment.
- These are: £85m for red flag and time-critical care (funded from within existing HSC baseline); £50m (additional earmarked funding from monitoring rounds) for backlog clearance, focusing on longest-waiting patients; and £80m (funded from existing HSC baseline) to expand broader elective care capacity.
- This represents a major opportunity at scale to reduce the capacity gap and target long waiting routine patients.