Key hospital waiting lists reduced in November, according to the latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).
Outpatient waiting lists reduced by more than 1,000 to 515,360.
The number of people waiting for a date for inpatient or day case care also reduced by more than 1,000 to 70,989.
However, the number waiting for a date for inpatient or day care for a gastrointestinal check, went up by 420 on the previous month to 18,322.
Overall, hospital waiting lists are down from this year's peak of 718,165 in July.
The NTPF said that by the end of November, 20,512 public patients waiting for surgery had accepted an offer of NTPF funded treatment.
It said that with referrals still ongoing, it had exceeded its full year target of 20,000 patients.
In addition, the NTPF said it had also arranged 4,000 gastrointestinal scopes so far this year.
