Northern Ireland's health minister has put hospital trusts on notice that she expects them to deliver on waiting list targets set this year.

Bairbre de Brun was speaking after waiting lists for operations in the province reached an all-time high.

Figures show that about 60,000 people are waiting on hospital lists and another 140,000 people are waiting for their first appointment as an out-patient.

Bairbre de Brun: Trusts put on notice

The figures, released on Thursday, have been on an upward trend for more than three years.

They refer to the number of people waiting to go into hospital either as a day case or as an in-patient.

But the data contains another statistic - the number of people waiting for their first appointment as an out-patient.

They have been referred to as the "queue to join the queue".

However, not everyone seen as an out-patient will subsequently require further treatment.

Ms de Brun said she was concerned about the increase in the numbers of people waiting for hospital in-patient treatment.

Record numbers of people are waiting for treatment

"Our target this year is to hold waiting lists at their present levels and I shall now be looking to the service, and particularly chief executives of trusts, to get us back on course," she said.

She said she had taken "significant action already to put in place a solid foundation for tackling the waiting problem".

"I have secured significant additional resources for the service this year. I have set in train a programme to increase efficiency and improve effectiveness in hospital services.

"A regional service improvement leader has been appointed to lead this process. Now is the time for the service to deliver."

Longest queues

While the total waiting on an out-patient appointment has dipped in recent months, health chiefs will be concerned that it is now about 130,000.

Last year, the Northern Ireland Executive announced an extra �41m to help ease the situation.

Earlier this year, it emerged that Northern Ireland had the worst hospital waiting lists in Europe.

For some years it has had the longest queues in the United Kingdom - but now it is the worst in the European Union.

In Northern Ireland, the health boards are in breach of charter standards if patients have been waiting more than 12 months for heart surgery - or 18 months for everything else.