Getty ImagesConditions in emergency departments (EDs) are “soul destroying”, a senior consultant has said after it was revealed that one patient waited more than 330 hours inside a unit.
New figures, obtained by News NI, show that in a seven-month period to January this year, one patient waited two weeks at the Ulster Hospital, while another waited 11 days at the Mater in Belfast.
Dr Clodagh Corrigan, deputy chair of the British Medical Association in Northern Ireland, said conditions in EDs for staff and patients were “horrific”.
In a statement, the Department of Health (DoH) acknowledged that waiting times in EDs “fall well below the standard of care that we strive to provide”.
Hundreds stuck in hospitals across NI
The DoH target is for 95% of patients to be treated, discharged or admitted within four hours and no patient to wait longer than 12 hours.
Dr Corrigan, who is an emergency medicine consultant, has called on the department to spend its money more effectively.
A Freedom of Information request from News NI revealed that every health trust in Northern Ireland experienced patient waits of about week or more.
The Northern Health Trust said a wait of more than 10 days for a patient in Antrim Area Hospital was because they needed to be isolated in a side room for other people’s safety.
“If there’s space, it’s taken up by somebody,” said Dr Corrigan.
She added that patients who might be vomiting or suffering from diarrhoea were queuing for the one toilet available in a unit.
“It’s a soul-destroying work environment. You can’t give the care you want to give,” she said.
“You certainly aren’t giving the care you’re trained to give. It’s not the care you’d want your family to receive.”
There are currently hundreds of people stuck in hospitals across Northern Ireland who are medically fit to be discharged but do not have a care package or an appropriate facility to go to.
The BMA said this increases pressure in EDs because people are not moving through the hospital system.
The requested data from all five health trusts under Freedom of Information, including that relating to the height of the winter pressures over Christmas and New Year.
They reflect the immense pressure healthcare staff were under at the time, with one nursing leader describing conditions as “intolerable”.
Between 12 December 2024 and 20 January this year, 140 patients had to wait in crowded EDs for more than 100 hours.
At Altnagelvin Area Hospital, one person spent a week in its ED.
The hospital recorded the highest number of patients waiting the longest times, with 48 people waiting for more than 100 hours.
Dr Corrigan said the BMA was calling for greater investment in the health service and multi-year budgets.
“The money that exists needs to be used better. There’s been an awful lot of investment in a lot of new initiatives… and while we welcome some of those initiatives, we’re not seeing the pressures easing from them,” she said.
“It might be better investing in the services that are already here and shaping them better.”
In a statement, the Department of Health said Health Minister Mike Nesbitt was “acutely aware of the pressures within emergency departments”.
“The department also recognises the risk of possible harm to patients who experience long waiting times in ED and is working with trusts to improve patient flow through urgent and emergency care,” it added.
There were still major waits for patients in EDs this week, with patients at Craigavon Area Hospital waiting an average of 15 hours to be seen on Monday.
