Its unacceptable that Accident and Emergency waiting times are continually on the increase - Kelly
Aontú Newry and Armagh candidate Martin Kelly has stated time and again the need for politicians to focus on the health communities of our communities and yet the queues for patients to see health professionals continues to grow, with no end in sight.
New healthcare statistics have shown that the number of people waiting longer than 12 hours at Emergency Departments has doubled in the past year. Some 3,482 patients waited to be treated and either discharged or admitted to hospital for over 12 hours in A&E departments across the north this year.
The statistics came to light in the Department of Health's Waiting Time Statistics bulletin for the quarter ending 30 September 2019. Pressure facing EDs appears to be growing when we consider the summer period, with 214,685 people attending Emergency Departments, over 9,000 more than the same period in 2018. In September meanwhile, some 71,820 people attended for medical assistance, 7.6% more than in 2018.
Those who were discharged home following treatment had an average wait of just under three hours, while those admitted to hospital waited around seven and a half hours, the figures reveal.
During September 2019, the Craigavon Area Hospital reported the longest median time spent in an ED from arrival to admission to hospital in a Type 1 ED (9 hours 33 minutes), whilst Belfast's Hospital for Sick Children reported the shortest median time of three hours 45 minutes.
Martin Kelly stated:
“It is inevitable that demand for services will increase further over the winter period and, whilst additional measures will be put in place to address the need by the department of health, it is anticipated that the months ahead will be extremely challenging for Emergency Departments and their staff and for the people who wait patiently to receive their care.”
