AQW 49237/22-27 Written question to the Minister of Health

To ask the Minister of Health to detail the number of people on the waiting list for a PET scan in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, in each of the last two years, broken down by month.

Asked by David Honeyford MLA on 22 June 2026

  • Answered
  • Written
  • After due date
Tabled
22 June 2026
Answer due by
7 July 2026
Answered
15 July 202623 days after tabling
Department
Department of Health
Priority question
No

Answer

The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust provides the regional PET CT imaging service for Northern Ireland. As such, it maintains a single waiting list for all referrals to this service, regardless of the referring Health and Social Care Trust.

The waiting list is not categorised by referral source, and it is therefore not possible to identify or extract a subset of patients specifically referred from the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.

However, overall waiting list figures for patients awaiting a PET scan across Northern Ireland are available for the period April 2025 to June 2026 and are presented below on a monthly basis. Data for the period June 2024 to March 2025 were not routinely captured in a reportable format due to system changes, including the implementation of Encompass. There are also isolated gaps within this period, including March 2026, where data is unavailable as it was not routinely extracted at that time.

MonthPatients Awaiting PET Scan
April 2025607
May 2025616
June 2025640
July 2025668
August 2025674
September 2025680
October 2025675
November 2025671
December 2025629
January 2026669
February 2026649
March 2026Not available
April 2026617
May 2026601
June 2026566

Official sources