New figures released this afternoon show an extra 3,500 people on the list waiting for an outpatient appointment in public hospitals.
The data, published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), shows a decrease in the number of people waiting for an inpatient or day case procedure.
The number on that list decreased by 2,165.
The data shows that in August there were 608 fewer patients waiting in the 15-18 month category while there was an increase of 358 patients waiting over 18 months.
Galway University Hospital has the longest inpatient, day case and outpatient waiting lists in the country with 50,853 patients waiting.
That figure is up 300 on the previous month's data.
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The Galway breakdown is: 39,041 waiting to be seen as outpatients, plus 11,812 waiting for an inpatient or day case procedure.
Other hospitals with long outpatient waiting lists are Waterford University Hospital with 36,331 (down six on July) and the Mater Hospital in Dublin with 32,208 waiting.
In a statement, Minister for Health Simon Harris welcomed the fact that there has been a significant reduction in the total number of patients waiting for inpatient/day case procedures, but said that the Government must now build on that progress.
"The overall number of patients on the list is down by over 2,100 in August. This is good progress and shows in a very real way the impact of government funding of €20m provided to the National Treatment Purchase Fund this year," said Mr Harris.
"It is progress that we must now build on and that is why funding for the NTPF is to rise to €55m in 2018, so that more procedures can be carried out and more people treated."
In a statement, the HSE said: "The latest data from the NTPF shows that the inpatient and day case plan is on target with 20,968 patients taken off the list to date.
"This includes patients that have been treated through the NTPF day case initiative and patients [that] have been treated through the in-sourcing initiative in public hospitals."
