The number of people being placed on waiting lists for outpatient appointments is continuing to rise, despite a recent reduction in the longest waiters, new figures reveal.

HSE waiting list figures show that there were only 4,937 people waiting over a year for an outpatient consultation at the end of December last, compared to 56,270 one month previously. There was a reduction of around 95% in the number of 12 month-plus outpatient waiters between March and December last year.

However, the new figures show that while the number of people waiting between one and four years for outpatient consultations has reduced dramatically, more people continue to be put on waiting lists, and hardly any impression has been made on reducing the numbers waiting six to 12 months for outpatients.

The statistics show that the numbers waiting between three and six months for an outpatient visit increased from 72,694 in January 2013 to 75,544 in December 2013. The numbers waiting between six months and a year has only decreased slightly during this period, from 82,821 to 78,138.*

The total number of patients waiting from zero to 12 months for outpatient care increased from around 275,000 to over 295,000 between the beginning and the end of last year, the figures show.

The overall drop in outpatient waiting list numbers was achieved last year thanks to a major cut in the 12-month plus waiters.

However, there are still thousands of patients waiting a year or more for outpatient appointments.

The end of December figures show that there are still 3,990 patients on outpatient lists waiting 12-24 months, 706 patients waiting 24-36 months, 197 waiting 36-48 months and 44 waiting over four years for outpatient appointments.

Health Minister James Reilly announced in January that there were now only 4,626 patients waiting over a year for outpatients. However, as revealed recently on irishhealth.com, this figure has since had to be revised upwards after it was discovered that some patients at Loughlinstown Hospital in Dublin had been taken off the outpatient list even though they had still not seen a consultant.

The HSE said this was due to an administrative error.

Minister Reilly has ordered hospitals to get the numbers waiting over a year for outpatient care down to zero in the first half of this year and maintain it for the rest of the year. He has set a target of no-one waiting more than nine months for an outpatient visit in 2015.

Meanwhile, the HSE says only one adult hospital did not meet the set eight month maximum waiting period for operations for the end of last year.

The numbers waiting over eight months for treatment dropped from 6,305 to only four between August and December last, the HSE said.

There were just under 45,000 people in total on treatment waiting lists at the end of last year, compared to nearly 51,000 in July of last year and just under 44,000 in January 2013.

* Comparative outpatient figures between January and December 20123 do not include St Michael's Dun Laoghaire and Temple Street Hospitals, as these did not report figures in January.