More than 4,000 children have been waiting on Northern Ireland's health waiting lists for more than a year for a first consultant appointment, it can be revealed.
Northern Ireland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, Koulla Yiasouma, said the situation is now "alarming."
Regionally, over half (53%) of the approximate 10,000 children waiting for consultant led hospital treatment have now been waiting more than one year. Across NI, 611 children have been waiting over four years for this healthcare.
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As of April 2022, the South Eastern Trust had the highest number of children waiting a year or more for a first consultant led outpatient appointment, with 4,513 waiting this length. In the Belfast Trust, this figure was 4,287.
Koulla Yiasouma said: "The situation is now alarming, many children on waiting lists can be experiencing pain and discomfort, their education disrupted, their ability to forge childhood friendships, thrive and develop taken from them while they wait for healthcare in Northern Ireland.
"The fact we also have an annual increase of 184% from 510 children to 1,449 children waiting over four years for a first consultant led outpatient appointment is simply unacceptable.”
"Parents’ hearts are breaking as they watch their children missing out on vital parts of childhood while they struggle to manage health conditions. If giving children ‘the best start in life’ is the Government’s aim, then the opposite is happening for thousands of children in Northern Ireland."
Within these lists, waiting times for Ears, Nose and Throat conditions are one of the largest, with almost 10,000 children waiting for a consultant led outpatient appointment and over 4,000 waiting for a procedure or surgery.
In October 2021, the Children's Commissioner launched her first child health waiting list report and released data that wasn’t available from published official waiting time reports. The Commissioner met with child health experts and key decision makers to discuss what more can be done in the absence of an Executive and Assembly.
Koulla continued: "With the possibility that yet another election may take place, it must be acknowledged that on top of the pandemic, which inevitably increased the number of children on waiting lists, the lack of an Assembly or Executive has contributed to an already struggling health and social care system. This has pushed it to breaking point and many would argue that it is now broken.
"NI needs strong leadership and brave evidence-based decision-making to rebuild and reform our system at the pace it needs to and this must include children’s services."
Highlighting some positive news since last year’s report, Koulla said: "There has been an overall decrease by 2,405 in the numbers of children with red flag or urgent referrals waiting to be seen and this must be welcomed.
"There were no children waiting over one year on a red flag appointment, where there were 24 last year. There were also no red flag cases waiting over six months, an improving picture from 2021 when 45 children were waiting.”
The picture across the UK, while difficult to compare due to how statistics are collected, shows people in Northern Ireland are now four times more likely to be waiting for planned care as in England. The Northern Ireland figure has consistently been higher than in England, Scotland and Wales.
Northern Ireland's Children's Commissioner said she would expect the picture for child health waiting lists to mirror this trend.
"While the numbers are alarming, the Department of Health’s response to our Review has shown that some change can still happen without an Executive," Koulla added.
"The decrease in urgent and red flag waits are testament to that and I warmly welcome the process to appoint a Senior Medical Officer with responsibility for child health. We would like to see other senior roles with dedicated child specific focus developed across policy and planning.
“I understand the Department is committed to finding ways to progress work while we wait the formation of a Government and agreement on a multi-year budget. NICCY is committed to working alongside them to make sure they deliver on the outstanding recommendations from our Review.
“Children should not be left waiting months or years in a queue to access services, they have a right to receive high quality healthcare without unnecessary delay, they deserve to experience childhood without struggling to manage health conditions.”
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