There are 6,000 patients in Northern Ireland who have waited five years or more for an operation.
The Royal College of Surgeons has expressed concern over continued long waiting lists for surgery as 122,267 patients are on waiting lists in the inpatient and day case categories.
There are 66,302 patients who have been waiting a year or more for their surgeries, which is more than half of those on the waiting lists and 6,000 have been waiting five years or more.
