Emergency departments across Northern Ireland under 'extreme pressure'

Hospitals in Northern Ireland are coming under immense pressure due to coronavirus.
Emergency departments across NI are feeling the strain. Credit: UTV

Northern Ireland's Health and Social Care Board has released a statement saying that emergency departments across the region were under "extreme pressure" on Tuesday night.

The board said increasing numbers of patients were attending A&E departments and were needing to be admitted to hospital.

The latest waiting times, published at 7.20am on 2 June, revealed patients at Craigavon Area Hospital's emergency department were experiencing the worst waits - with the average wait time to be seen being over 7.5 hours.

Lengthy waits are also being seen at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Altnagelvin Area Hospital, and Daisy Hill Hospital, with waits of over 3.5 hours.

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A spokesperson for the Health and Social Care system in Northern Ireland said: “Whilst our staff are working hard to ensure that patients receive the treatment and care that they need, significant pressures on services have led to some patients waiting longer than is acceptable.

"We would therefore ask the public to assist us in using services appropriately.

"The public are also reminded of the need to prevent crowding in our emergency departments given the continued risk of Covid-19 transmission. “Our clear message is, if you have a life threatening condition or seriously ill or injured, then the emergency department is the place to go."

The spokesperson added: “For urgent care treatment that is not life threatening, the ‘Phone First’ service being trialed across the Western, Southern and Northern HSC Trusts’ areas helps redirect patients from busy emergency departments to other more appropriate services.” Patients are asked to ‘Phone First’ before attending emergency departments at the Causeway, Antrim Area, Daisy Hill, Craigavon Area, Altnagelvin and the South West Acute Hospital. Patients are also asked to ‘Phone First’ before attending the Minor Injuries Units in South Tyrone and Mid Ulster hospitals and the Urgent Care and Treatment Unit in Omagh.