Latest waiting times at A&E departments are worst on record

Waiting times at Northern Ireland's emergency departments are the worst on record, new figures show.
Over 9,500 patients had to wait more than 12 hours at emergency departments in Northern Ireland from January to March this yearOver 9,500 patients had to wait more than 12 hours at emergency departments in Northern Ireland from January to March this year
Over 9,500 patients had to wait more than 12 hours at emergency departments in Northern Ireland from January to March this year

The Department of Health uses two key targets to measure the performance of emergency care in Northern Ireland – the number of people forced to wait more than four hours to be seen to, and the number of people forced to wait more than 12 hours.

Figures published on Thursday, covering the period January to March this year, are the worst on record for both of those two metrics.

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The department aims to have no patient waiting longer than 12 hours.

Across the first three months of this year, 9,567 people had to wait longer than that.

That is more than quadruple the equivalent figure for the same three months in 2010 – 2,178.

The other key target is to have 95% of patients seen to within four hours. In January the figure was 66.1%, in February it was 66.9% and last month it was 65.1%.

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That represents the three lowest four-hour figures since records began, three months in a row.

The Department of Health has been publishing statistics outlining the performance of emergency care in Northern Ireland since April 2009.

The news comes after a survey of emergency department consultants here found almost unanimous agreement that emergency medicine is in a state of crisis, that the situation is worse than in previous years, and that patients are being put at risk by crowding.

Since winter pressures are often said to place an additional burden on the health system, the News Letter has compared the latest figures with the equivalent first-quarter figures for every year since 2010.

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For the first three months of every year from 2010 through to 2017, at no point did the number of people forced to wait more than four hours fall below 71.1%

The 12-hour figures make for a similarly stark comparison. The highest number of patients forced to wait 12 hours during January, February and March came in 2011. In the first quarter that year, the figure was 3,424 – compared to 9,567 this year.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has spoken out about the figures.

Dr Ian Crawford, vice president of RCEM Northern Ireland, said: “The combination of a growing and ageing population along with insufficient health and social care resources to match patients’ needs has resulted in ‘exit block’, crowding in emergency departments and declining four-hour performance.

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“These figures are a symptom of the extremely serious problems the NHS continues to face.”

Dr Crawford added: “At the heart of this are patients, patients whose welfare and dignity suffer whilst waiting in busy, crowded emergency departments for a vacant hospital bed, sometimes for 12 hours or even longer.”

The Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) has apologised for the figures.

A spokesperson said: “Emergency departments and hospital wards in Northern Ireland were very busy during the quarter from January to March 2018 and this is a similar situation across the rest of the UK and Ireland.”

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The spokesperson said an ageing population could be having an impact, adding: “Nobody in the HSCB considers this to be an acceptable position and we would apologise to anyone who has had to wait for a long period in an emergency department to be seen, treated, and either admitted to hospital or discharged.”