More than 100,000 hospital patients were on waiting lists for an appointment for an inpatient or day case treatment in September.
The figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund also found in the same month 626 and a half thousand patients were waiting for a first hospital outpatient consultation - of those more than 72 thousand were children.
The HSE says it anticipates that the increases in waiting list volumes will stabilise and performance will improve in the final months of 2025. The Department of Health said it will continue to drive improvements in waiting list performance through ongoing engagement with the HSE and NTPF.
Its says the increases in waiting list volumes seen at the beginning of the year were part of an anticipated multi-annual trend due to a winter surge in demand for unscheduled and emergency care and elevated levels of respiratory illness.
The increases continued to have an impact on waiting lists through the year.
The Department pointed out that a portion of the recent increases relates to the resolution of a reporting issue which resulted in approximately 7,000 patients being added to the outpatient waiting list.
