Public warning: Unheard-of ‘extreme’ pressure at Antrim as 62 patients need a bed but none available – Causeway also facing severe crisis

Antrim in particular is suffering from a high influx of very sick patients, with the trust calling the level of demand “unprecedented”.

At one point, 62 people needed to be admitted to beds in Antrim that simply were not available.

The trust said: “You will experience a very long wait if your condition is not urgent. We apologise to all our patients for the long waits.”

A trust spokesperson added: “We’re not in a good place at all and we have never seen pressures just quite as intense as this.

“Unfortunately, those pressures are compounded by the fact that many of the patients waiting in the Emergency Department are very sick indeed. Senior staff and clinicians are in constant communication with each other to try and identify what, if anything, can be can done.

“They are also working with colleagues in the wider HSC, although pressures are also severe elsewhere across the region, meaning that normal balancing, or ‘smoothing’, of ambulance arrivals across the system is much more difficult.

“Flow through the hospital is considerably impacted and discharge is more complicated because we are also continuing to care for significant numbers of Covid in-patients.

“Currently, Antrim Hospital has 26% of all of the region’s Covid in-patients and more Covid inpatients (101) than any other hospital in Northern Ireland. In situations like this many different actions, some seemingly minor, can collectively make the difference.

“We have also asked our GP colleagues in Primary Care, who are themselves under considerable pressure, for their help in trying to ensure that only those who absolutely need to attend ED do so.”

SDLP health spokesman Conor McGrath said: “This incident underlines the crisis ongoing in our health service, years of mismanagement and a failure to implement reform have gotten us to this point.

“It’s not just Antrim Area Hospital, many of our hospitals are struggling to deal with the demand for care and all it takes is one or two particularly bad days to tip them over the edge.

“We need to take urgent action to save our health service before it’s too late.”

And the DUP issued a statement which said: “This is an extremely concerning time for both patients and staff.

“It is incumbent upon the Department of Health to step forward immediately and provide the hospital with any and all support they need to ensure the safety of both patients and staff.”

A “potential major incident” had been declared earlier in the day.

This is usually called by the ED Consultant in charge on safety grounds, and puts staff throughout the hospitals and in community services on high alert, causing them to focus on all possible actions to avert an actual major incident being declared.

It remains in place until it is either stood down or is escalated to a full major incident, which would involve the hospital being unable to take any further patients and effectively shutting its doors.

The “major incident” has since been rescinded, although the pressures on the hospitals remain extreme.

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