A&E WAITING TIMES SOAR FURY AS 17,000 WAIT MORE THAN 12 HOURS TO BE SEEN
MORE than 17,000 people waited for over 12 hours in an accident and emergency department last year.
New figures from the Department of Health also show that almost 800,000 people sought treatment in an A&E in 2017/18, with 68% of those attending a ‘type 1’ facility — which handles the most severe cases — seen within the four-hour target time.
That was a slight drop of 1.5% compared to the previous year and a decrease of almost 5% compared to 2013/14.
But 17,400 faced a wait of more than 12 hours, compared to 6,494 in the year before.
The most notable increase was at the Ulster Hospital, where 4,553 people waited for that length of time — a rise of more than 3,000.
It was also revealed that 45.2% of category A (immediately life-threatening) calls received by the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service were responded to within eight minutes. That’s well short of the regional target of 72.5%.
The lowest figure was 35.1% in the Southern area.
Ulster Unionist MLA Robbie Butler said the figures showed the “spiralling crisis engulfing the NHS in Northern Ireland”.
“There are only so many times we can express concern and deepening horror at the deteriorating state of affairs,” he insisted.
“The reality is that in 2018, despite our advances in medical care, patients are coming to harm as a result of avoidable delays in receiving treatment,” he said.
“Why should the people of Northern Ireland be expected to put up with a failing system like this? It simply isn’t good enough.”
Mark H Durkan of the SDLP said: “Despite the dedication of hard-working staff, our health service is continuing to be starved of political and strate- gic direction and this is impacting on the front line. We should not accept rising waiting times as the norm. What is needed is functioning institutions, ministers in place and plans for transformation followed through on.”
The Health and Social Care Board said more older and sicker people were attending A&E than in the past and added that the transformation of the healthcare system was the “only long-term sustainable answer”.
It added: “This is simply not acceptable and the service is taking steps to ensure improvements are put in place.”
It explained that people may have had to wait longer in an emergency department because a bed was not available on the wards and this was a problem at all times of the year.
“Staff across all trusts are working closely with the Health and Social Care Board and the Public Health Agency to identify areas where improvements can be made.
“In 2018/19 more than £8m of transformation funding will be invested into reforming and enhancing services that should help reduce the pressures on emergency care.
“Importantly, this includes measures to help prevent people needing to attend Emergency departments and also steps to support people when they leave hospital.”