The number of new patients awaiting a first-time procedure has fallen to just over 300, down from approximately 550 two years ago.
More than a third of them have been waiting less than two months, although another third, understood to be made up of less urgent cases, have been on the list for more than six months.
Demand for endoscopy has continued to increase, but that has been more than offset by improvements in how waiting lists are managed and efficiency gains which have allowed a higher number of procedures to be carried out.
Health & Social Care said the new approach had avoided the need to request funding for another expensive blitz of waiting lists.
‘We stopped having to put in for £500,000 because of work we asked the Medical Specialist Group to do and which they did.
‘There has been movement there precipitated by our request to do something productive in terms of triage on their list,’ said HSC president George Oswald.
Medical director Peter Rabey put the improvement down to the MSG reprioritising cases, GPs amending their approach to referrals, and alterations to the endoscopy procedure itself to boost throughput.
‘On average, in 2024, 7.5 more patients were taken off the waiting list each month than added on, either by having their procedure or through a review of their waiting list status.
In 2025 to date, that increased to an average of 12 patients per month,’ said Dr Rabey.
However, he said that a target set by HSC nearly three years ago to cut endoscopy waiting lists to about 100 patients was now ‘unobtainable’ because of the ‘huge increase in demand in gastroenterology’ experienced since then.
And one waiting list had actually got longer over the past couple of years, with more patients waiting for a first appointment following a referral to a specialist, with a particular spike in those waiting between six and 12 months.
Deputy Oswald claimed that even holding waiting lists steady would be ‘a significant achievement’ in the face of rising demand, at least until more theatre space is added as part of a £130m. development at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital which is expected to go to the States for debate next year.
But he hoped the island would be ‘in a much better position than we have been for some considerable time’ as a result of the recruitment of one or two additional specialists next year.
‘We are pleased that the recruitment process is progressing positively for a second full-time gastroenterologist and we hope they will be in post early next year. This will significantly increase our capacity in this area with two full-time gastroenterologists and a nurse endoscopist,’ he said.
HSC also produced figures showing a slight reduction in the waiting list for orthopaedic procedures, from 904 two years ago to 800 at the start of this month.
It said that, in total, the in-patient waiting list had fallen by more than 20%, from 2,800 early in 2024 to 2,200 today.
‘We recognise the strain that waiting for treatment places on patients and their families, and we are committed to ensuring no one waits longer than necessary. Our teams are working tirelessly to make the best use of the capacity we currently have,’ said Deputy Oswald.