Public hospital waiting lists rose last month by over 17,200 patients and now stand just short of one million people waiting to be seen, or to have a hospital procedure.
The data from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) for February shows there are 943,011 patients on some form of public hospital waiting list.
It compares with a figure of 925,773 for January.
The hospitals with the biggest lists for patients waiting for an inpatient or day case treatment are: Galway University Hospitals with over 13,300 adults waiting; Beaumont Hospital with over 12,000 waiting and the Mater Hospital with over 10,700 waiting.
The Children's Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals have 5,881 patients waiting for treatment.
The total number of children on CHI spinal surgery waiting lists at the end of last month was 229, the latest figures show.
A further 48 children are suspended from the waiting list for clinical or personal reasons, or because they are confirmed to have their surgery in another hospital under a CHI initiative.
There have been rises reported in all categories of waiting lists, including for those waiting for an inpatient, or day case treatment - where there are now 114,219 waiting.
There are 642,158 patients waiting to be seen for the first time at an outpatient clinic and 38,654 waiting for a gastrointestinal scope.
In addition to the national list of 943,011 patients, there are also over 34,000 patients listed by the NTPF as "suspended".
These are a category of patients who are temporarily unfit, or unable to attend for clinical or social reasons.
This suspended list also includes patients who are part of government waiting list initiatives to have their treatment done in private, or public hospitals, under what are technically called insourcing (using public facilities) or outsourcing (using private facilities) measures.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said that notwithstanding longer-term improvements that have been seen, waiting lists more recently have been impacted by the ongoing trend of higher demand and increased referrals, which has offset the significantly increased levels of activity that are being delivered in acute hospitals.
She added that 55% or around 155,000 less patients were waiting over 12 months since September 2021.
The minister said that signs of progress in waiting list performance seen towards the end of last year, have not continued into 2026, having been impacted by the anticipated multi-annual trend arising from the winter surge in demand for unscheduled and emergency care.
Stephen McMahon, Irish Patients Association, said that the National Treatment Purchase Fund figures confirm that one in three adults without private health insurance is now actively waiting for a public hospital appointment or procedure.
He also asked that the HSE explain why, of the almost one million patients currently in the waiting list system, how many are presenting to emergency departments because they cannot access timely care through the waiting list.
