Hospitals faced significant pressures over holiday period

2020-01-09

Hospitals across Northern Ireland faced significant pressures over the holiday period.

Latest figures issued today, Thursday 9 January, by the Health and Social Care Board highlight the strain on services.

For the period 20 December 2019 to 3 January 2020, the key highlights are:

The number of people who waited more than 12 hours in an Emergency Department (ED) to be seen, treated and either discharged or admitted to a hospital bed increased from 723 breaches last year to 2,435 breaches this year. Of the 1,714 additional 12 hour breaches this year 1,052 were aged 65 or over.
Whilst there was 8% decrease in the number of people who attended Emergency Departments over the holiday period (compared to last year), there was a 7% increase in the number of older patients – aged over 65 – in the most urgent categories.
Compared to five years ago (2014/15) – the overall attendances at ED are up by 9% and for those aged 65 and over, there was a 22% increase.
There were 6% fewer adult patients discharged from the main hospitals with 182 more admissions than there were discharges. This highlights the pressures on community services and the limited availability of community packages over the holiday period to allow patients to be discharged from hospital.
Across the region, for the 15 day period, the average waiting time for those to be seen, treated but not admitted was 3 hours 30 mins; the average waiting time to be admitted to a hospital bed was 11 hours 45 mins.

A spokesperson for the Health and Social Care system said:

“The figures released today show that, similar to other parts of the UK and Ireland, health and social care services in Northern Ireland have and continue to be under sustained pressure over the holiday period.

“We would pay tribute to our staff who are working tirelessly to ensure that patients receive the care that they need.

“Health service organisations have repeatedly made it clear that the 2019/20 winter period would again bring serious challenges. Despite the plans in place, some patients have had to wait for unacceptably long periods in Emergency Departments – for that we sincerely apologise.

“The challenges are in part due to an increase in older, sicker patients attending Emergency Departments. These patients will often require longer in-patient stays and then more complex social care packages when they are ready to leave hospital.

“The well documented workforce shortages, as well as the impact of flu and the norovirus have also compounded the pressures.

“All HSC organisations will continue to work closely to ensure that the most urgent and sickest patients are prioritised.

“In the longer term, we need a radical transformation of services. The Department of Health is currently carrying out a review of urgent and emergency care to establish a new regional care model for the next 10-15 years. An initial report is expected early 2020, which will outline the current challenges facing urgent and emergency care services and explore some potential solutions.”

Further Details

See table below for the period 20 December 2019 to 3 January 2020, compared to the same period last year.

This year compared to last year (2019/20 vs 2018/19)
		Belfast	Northern	South Eastern	Southern	Western	Total
ED Atts	This Year	6805	5302	3635	5138	4046	24926
	Last Year	7566	5477	3911	5685	4316	26955
	Variance	-761	-175	-276	-547	-270	-2029
		Belfast	Northern	South Eastern	Southern	Western	Total
12 hour breaches	This Year	446	550	432	575	432	2435
	Last Year	89	143	289	139	63	723
	Variance	357	407	143	436	369	1712
		Belfast	Northern	South Eastern	Southern	Western	Total
% within 4 hours	This Year	55%	62%	55%	52%	49%	55%
% within 4 hours	Last Year	64%	64%	57%	62%	67%	63%
		Belfast	Northern	South Eastern	Southern	Western	Total
Adult Admissions	This Year	1275	1293	1022	1254	934	5778
	Last Year	1428	1279	1121	1331	962	6121
	Variance	-153	14	-99	-77	-28	-343
		Belfast	Northern	South Eastern	Southern	Western	Total
Paed Admissions	This Year	217	146	162	134	191	850
	Last Year	235	183	172	162	227	979
	Variance	-18	-37	-10	-28	-36	-129
		Belfast	Northern	South Eastern	Southern	Western	Total
Adult Discharges	This Year	1203	1268	970	1231	924	5596
	Last Year	1368	1278	1076	1323	922	5967
	Variance	-165	-10	-106	-92	2	-371
		Belfast	Northern	South Eastern	Southern	Western	Total
Paed Discharges	This Year	224	144	164	145	203	880
	Last Year	239	180	163	164	222	968
	Variance	-15	-36	1	-19	-19	-88
		Belfast	Northern	South Eastern	Southern	Western	Total
Avg Waits – Admitted	This Year	9 hrs 32 mins	11 hrs 19 mins	13 hrs 40 mins	12 hrs 41 mins	11 hrs 34 mins	11 hrs 43 mins
Avg Waits – Admitted	Last Year	6 hrs 12 mins	6 hrs 47 mins	9 hrs 15 mins	7 hrs 9 mins	6 hrs 3 mins	7 hrs 4 mins
		Belfast	Northern	South Eastern	Southern	Western	Total
Avg Waits – Non Admitted	This Year	3 hrs 56 mins	3 hrs 28 mins	3 hrs 20 mins	3 hrs 34 mins	4 hrs 13 mins	3 hrs 44 mins
Avg Waits – Non Admitted	Last Year	3 hrs 10 mins	3 hrs 6 mins	3 hrs 14 mins	3 hrs 10 mins	2 hrs 56 mins	3 hrs 8 mins

Note
Non Elective Admissions & Discharges figures exclude Ambulatory/Virtual activity

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Hospitals faced significant pressures over holiday period