Hospitals were given a pat on the back today by the Health Minister for continuing to cut patient waiting times - but told they still need to do better.

The latest figures for the three months to the end of March showed the number of patients waiting over the target 13 weeks for inpatient and daycare treatment had been slashed to just 387 compared to the 7,481 a year earlier.

The big drop came while hospitals treated almost 54,500 inpatients during the quarter.

Those waiting more than the target nine weeks for outpatient treatment were reduced to 488 from 8,625 and the number waiting for diagnostic tests was down to 85 from 1,515.

Minister Michael McGimpsey said significant effort had gone into achieving the improvements and he wanted to thank the staff.

"I set challenging targets to reduce waiting times for patients and I am pleased that in the vast majority of cases this has been achieved. Patients are now benefiting from greatly improved access to services."

But he added: "Although good progress has been made, further improvements are needed. A number of patients have had to wait longer than they should."

As a result, he said, he had asked the Health and Social Care Board to work with Trusts to ensure all outstanding patients were seen as soon as possible to ensure all patients received the service they deserved.

"I will be monitoring this closely", said Mr McGimpsey.

The reform programme led by the Department of Health had resulted in a much more responsive, effective and efficient health and social care service, said the minister.

"Only three years ago, it was commonplace for patients to be waiting over 12 months for an outpatient appointment - a situation that was most certainly unacceptable and now thankfully in the past.

"Everyone throughout health and social care is committed to continually driving up performance for the benefit of all patients," said the minister.