Public hospital outpatient waiting list numbers are continuing to spiral - the number of patients waiting over a year for an appointment has increased by 230% since the end of 2013.

The latest performance report from the HSE shows that there were 16,295 patients waiting over a year for an outpatient appointment as of the end of March, compared to only 4,937 waiting this period at the end of last year.

There were 13,438 patients waiting over a year for outpatients at the end of February.

The total number of patients on outpatient lists is now 331,281, compared to 300,752 at the end of 2013.

Health Minister Reilly aimed to have no-one waiting over a year for an outpatient consultation by the end of 2013. The numbers were cut by over 50,000 between the end of November and the end of December last.

This was mainly achieved through buying services from private hospitals for a once-off clearance of the lists before the end of 1913, However, the lists after they were cut substantially, almost immediately started rising again.

Latest figures also show that public hospital waiting lists for operations and procedures are continuing an upward spiral that started in January.

Only four adult patients were waiting over nine months for treatment at the end of December last but by the end of March the numbers waiting over eight months (the new maximum wait target) had risen to 4,350.

Total numbers on treatment waiting lists now stand at 50,537, compared to 44,870 at the end of December and 49,147 at the end of February.

The continuing increase in waiting lists, coupled with the growing financial crisis in the HSE, is increasing the pressure on Health Minister James Reilly, especially in the wake of the Government parties' poor local and European election results.