Trust cuts A&E waittimes for patients

Both of these occurrences were at Altnagelvin Area Hospital where 79 per cent of 4,230 patients were seen in less than four hours during January.

This was better than the NI average with 77.5 per cent of 56,476 patients seen within four hours. A staggering 1,236 patients had to wait more than 12 hours across the province.

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) published the statistics on the time spent waiting in emergency care departments last week.

The statistical bulletin presents information on all new and unplanned review attendances during January 2011. It also details the performance of each HSC Trust and Hospital against the DHSSPS Priorities for Action waiting time target for emergency care departments.

The key findings presented in the statistics release are: during the month of January 2011, 77.5 per cent of patients were either treated and discharged or admitted within four hours of their arrival in an emergency care department, compared to 77.8 per cent in December 2010 and 82.3 per cent in November 2010.

During January 2011, all (100.0 per cent) attendances at Type 3 emergency care departments were treated and discharged, or admitted within four hours of their arrival, compared with 84.6 per cent in Type 2 departments and 74.1 per cent in Type 1 departments.

A total of 1,236 patients waited longer than 12 hours across all emergency care departments in January 2011, compared to 702 in December 2010 and 774 in November 2010.

There were a total of 56,476 attendances at emergency care departments for the month of January 2011, compared with 54,604 in December 2010 and 53,973 in November 2010.