Health Minister David Ashford insists that recently-published figures on waiting lists are misleading.

Data released in Tynwald this month appeared to show that only a quarter of outpatients referred to a consultant have received an appointment.

More than 650 outpatients are waiting for cardiology treatment, with a maximum wait of 2,552 days, the written answer revealed.

One general surgeon had a maximum outpatient waiting time of eight years.

But Health and Social Care Minister David Ashford pointed out that the figures are not giving a true picture - and in some cases are wildly inaccurate.

He explained that in some cases, patients may no longer need treatment or may have died from other causes but have not been taken off the list. Others may require another procedure first.

He said: ’The Tynwald question asked about maximum wait not average waiting times. The maximum waiting times can be misleading because you may have people who no longer need the procedure for various reasons but have not come off the list.

’Equally in some circumstances you may have people waiting who require another procedure prior to undergoing that procedure.’

Mr Ashford said a less misleading picture can be seen by the quarterly waiting lists that are published on the government website and display length of wait by number of patients. The next list is due out this week.

They show that in July no outpatient cardiology patient was waiting longer than 24 months, and one was waiting more than 18 months.

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Ten were waiting between 12 and 17 months, 79 between six and 11 months, 105 between three and five months and 250 patients up to two months.

In a response to a Freedom of Information request, the DHSC revealed there is a five month waiting time for routine MRI scans. The waiting time for an urgent referral is four to six weeks.

Again, Mr Ashford said this doesn’t give a complete picture as it only asks (and therefore was only answered) about MRIs. There are also CT scans which are available 365 days a year 24 hours a day.

He said: ’In terms of MRI waiting times urgent referrals are dealt with in four to six weeks and routine referrals are five months.

’But it needs to bear in mind those are referrals not emergency cases that come through the door of Noble’s.

’The five months for non urgent is actually a decrease from where it was. In October 2016 my predecessor answered a question which stated that routine referrals were waiting on average just over six months.’

He added that demand for the service has increased massively since the service was first introduced.

’In 2003, the first year we had an MRI scanner on island, there were 298 scans carried out. In 2014 there were 2,861 scans which is a 860% increase over 11 years,’ he said. ’The figure then continued to rise with 3125 scans (a further 9.2% increase) in 2015.’