Solicitor Ciaran O’Hare of McIvor Farrell Solicitors is representing litigants May Kitchen and Eileen Wilson in the “first-of-their-kind” proceedings.

Mr Justice Adrian Colton yesterday granted permission for the matter to proceed to a full hearing. It will return to the High Court on Wednesday 27 January.

Mr O’Hare said: “My clients are very pleased with getting over this first but important legal hurdle. These are extremely important proceedings because hundreds of thousands of patients in Northern Ireland are suffering and languishing on waiting lists that are amongst the worst in Europe.

“My clients are seeking that the court declare that the extreme length of our waiting lists is a breach of the statutory duty of the Northern Ireland government and a breach of their human rights. These are landmark proceedings and the first of their kind. The cases will now proceed to a full hearing before the court.”

He added: “The simple fact is that the extreme length of our waiting lists would never be accepted in England. We do not have the NHS like in England, we have Health and Social Care and our hospital waiting lists are completely out of kilter with those in England and have been some years.”