To ask the Minister of Health to detail (i) the increase in the number of out-of-hours hospital appointments created in the past year in order to deal with waiting lists; and (ii) any funding bids he has made to the Executive and Westminster in order to fund the tackling of growing waiting lists.

It is normal practice for the HSC to schedule additional clinics out of hours to help address hospital waiting times for assessment. While the Covid-19 pandemic reduced the level of additional capacity which could be provided, there were still 8,982 outpatients seen out of hours during 2020/21.

My Department’s only option to secure additional funding is through the Department of Finance (DoF) led Budget exercises which determines the budget allocations for NI Departments and are agreed by the Executive.

As part of the 2021/22 Budget Exercise, my Department in acknowledging the additional pressures placed on waiting lists which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic made a bid of £30.3m to DoF in respect of Elective Services.

While this bid for additional funding was not met specifically my Department did receive Covid Rebuild funding of which I intend to use some £40m to fund Waiting List Initiatives and other Elective developments including orthopaedics.