Considerable progress has been made in reducing waiting times for public patients. The total number of persons on public hospital waiting lists at 31 March 2002, the latest date for which figures have been published, was 25,105. The comparable figure for 31 March 2001 was 26,382. This represents a decrease of 5% on the comparable figure for March 2001. The total number of adults waiting for more than 12 months for treatment in the target specialties has decreased by 20% between December 2000 and March 2002.