Antrim A&E waiting times under microscope

A Department of Health survey noted that The 12-hour waiting time target for Northern Ireland A&E units was breached more than 700 times between April and June with the majority of the breaches were at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) and Antrim Area hospital.

Antrim Area Hospital’s 12-hour waiting times were breached 122 times in April and 63 times in June.

This is in stark contrast to the emergency departments of Londonderry’s Altnagelvin Hospital, the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen or the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine where no patient waited in excess of 12 hours.

Newry’s Daisy Hill Hospital, Craigavon Area Hospital and the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children each recorded just one patient waiting more than 12 hours between April and June.

Commenting on the figures, Ballymena SDLP Councillor, Declan O’Loan said: “I am very disappointed to see these figures which demonstrate that Antrim Hospital is responsible for such a large proportion of the 12 hour waits across Northern Ireland hospitals.

“We have seen so many reports over the last three years which have analysed the problems, and there have been changes at Chief Executive and Chairman level, and yet a major problem still exists.

“It makes me question those personnel changes which don’t seem to have been related to root causes and don’t appear to have helped the situation. I cannot see how other hospitals have no 12 hour exceedances and yet our local residents receive a level of service which is not acceptable. Solutions are long overdue, whether that is more resources or better use of them.”

The four-hour waiting target, which states that 95% of patients should be treated, discharged or admitted within four hours of arriving in A&E, was breached at all NHS hospital emergency units in Northern Ireland.

The health service had to deal with an increase in the number of patients attending emergency departments over the quarter, with figures rising from 60,142 A&E attendances in April to 62,193 patients in June.

The latest A&E waiting time statistics have been compiled by the Department of Health’s Hospital Information Branch.

It stated: “The ministerial target for emergency care waiting times has not been achieved during any of the last three months (April - June 2014) as one or more components of the target were not met.”

However, it pointed out that the four-hour and 12-hour targets were met in full by all of Northern Ireland’s type three emergency care departments - which include minor injury units - during the period under examination.