NI hospital waiting times: ED attendances down by more than 20%

Fewer patients attended emergency departments during the Covid-19 lockdown

The number of people attending hospital emergency departments (EDs) in Northern Ireland in June fell by more than a fifth compared to June last year.

The Department of Health's latest figures cover April, May and June, when lockdown was at its height.

There were 54,448 ED attendances in June - 15,800 fewer than June 2019.

The figures also show that during the same month, the number of ED patients waiting longer that 12 hours fell slightly compared to June 2019.

However, the workload of ED staff is increasing as the Covid-19 lockdown continues to ease.

On Wednesday evening, the Southern Health Trust advised the public that Craigavon Area Hospital's ED was "very busy".

The trust appealed to adult patients to attend ED alone if possible because of "reduced capacity" in the hospital's ED waiting area as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.