Dear Eugene 

Northern Ireland Outpatient and Day Case Waiting Time Statistics

Thank you for your letter regarding Northern Ireland Outpatient Waiting Time Statistics. I welcome the improvements that you continue to make to the statistics following our review last year – these will increase the insights provided for users, for example on the quality and context of the statistics.  

We have discussed with your team the waiting times statistics for Day Case Procedure Centres which were added to the publication in 2019. Following a period of development, the process for producing these statistics is now well-established and follows the same approach as those for the outpatient statistics. It is also good that you have considered the interests of your users by providing these additional statistics. I am content that the National Statistics designation can be extended to include waiting times statistics for Day Case Procedure Centres.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Humpherson
Director General for Regulation