Ms Sheila McGuinness:

I thank the Senator. He is right that our waiting time is at an average of 6.8 months. We would expect waiting times to improve. We have a target this year of 5.5 months and they have improved significantly since 2019 when they were 12 months. The key approach of the waiting list is around waiting times, so we are targeting those people who are waiting the longest. Mr. Gloster, in his opening statement, spoke about those over three years and those over four years. This year, we are targeting those over two years and those over 12 months. Again, we are seeing a significant reduction in that and by the end of the year, we expect over 90% of people to be waiting less than a year. We are very hopeful that there will be improvements this year.