The length of Northern Ireland's hospital waiting lists has been highlighted today after it was confirmed a patient had been waiting almost seven years for orthopaedic surgery.
The Northern Ireland Minister for Health, Ms Angela Smith, is to be pressed to explain what she is going to do to improve waiting lists which, according to the latest figures, are likely to grow.
The details of the patient's seven-year wait was given to Democratic Unionist Party MP Ms Iris Robinson in a Parliamentary answer on the extent of waiting lists.
Ms Robinson said: "I was completely shocked and astounded that in 2005 we have such staggering waiting lists in two areas - those patients waiting for surgery and those waiting for their first initial outpatient's assessment.
"I will be asking the minister to look at these statistics and tell us what she is going to do to address them."
