To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for his assessment of (i) why the number of patients on waiting lists has more than doubled since December 2012; and (ii) why no Health and Social Care Trust met waiting time targets in 2015.

The increase in waiting times since 2014/15 is due to a number of factors including a year-on-year increase in referrals and agreed volumes of funded activity not being fully delivered across a number of specialties by Health and Social Care Trusts. It was also a great frustration that we wasted over £200 million of tax payers’ money over the last 3 years in penalties because of the failure to implement welfare reform. This has affected thousands of vulnerable people who have not been able to obtain the operations they desperately need.

Since the announcement in November of £40 million additional funding for my Department there has been significant efforts made by the Trusts and independent sector to provide additional outpatient clinics and treatments targeted at those who have been waiting the longest. This will provide up to

40,000 additional assessments and between 10,000 and 15,000 additional operations and treatments to be progressed.