Antrim Area Hospital experienced 'one of the worst days ever' says top doctor
WATCH: Full report by UTV's Health Reporter Deborah McAleese:
Tuesday was "one of the worst days ever" at Antrim Area Hospital, a senior medic has told UTV.
A potential major incident was declared at the hospital's emergency department on Tuesday afternoon. At one point, the department was on the verge of closing its doors due to the extreme pressures. During the evening a member of staff was assaulted.
The Northern Trust's interim director of medicine and emergency medicine Audrey Harris, said her team got to a position where "there were safety concerns as to how [they] could manage any more patients".
At one stage, 62 seriously ill people were waiting for beds that were not available.
"Extraordinary numbers, never seen before", according to the Trust. The incident was stood down after other health trusts agreed to take some of the hospital's patients, however significant pressures still remain. On Wednesday morning, pressures had eased a little with 52 patients waiting. Some had been waiting for more than 12 hours. “We enter most days firefighting. This hospital operates over capacity the majority of the time,” Mrs Harris told UTV. On Wednesday, the Department of Health reported that Antrim Area Hospital was operating at 11% over capacity. A doubling of Covid inpatients in the Northern Trust in just over a week, along with staffing pressures due to high community transmission rates, has further added to pressures. Mrs Harris said the pandemic has shown up just how frail Northern Ireland’s health system is. Nine hospitals are currently over capacity across Northern Ireland. There are 230 more beds occupied than the system can cope with. The South Eastern Trust has had to make several appeals for off duty staff to help out at their EDs and medical wards. The Trust’s Director of Hospital Services, David Robinson, told UTV that “significant pressures have continued day in and day out.” “It is just relentless at the moment,” he added. Potential major incidents are usually declared by the emergency department consultant in charge on safety grounds, in order for all possible actions to be taken to avert an actual major incident which would mean the hospital effectively closing its doors.