Northern Ireland health service 'incredibly fragile'

Antrim Area Hospital on Tuesday night

Northern Ireland's health service is "incredibly fragile" and seeing "very sick patients", the Northern Trust's chief executive has said.

It comes after a potential major incident was declared at Antrim Area Hospital.

The incident has been stood down, but it is rare and one step from a major incident.

A major incident means there are too many patients for staff to deal with safely.

The decision was made on Tuesday at 14:00 GMT, and lasted several hours.

At one point, 62 patients, mostly frail and elderly, were waiting to be admitted - the highest number ever recorded at the hospital.

That number came down to fewer than 50 as of 17:00 GMT, according to Northern Trust chief executive Jennifer Welsh.

She said the pressure being felt goes beyond one region.

The South Eastern Trust and the Western Trust have both made staff appeals on social media for the Ulster Hospital and Altnagelvin Hospital, with the South Eastern Trust reporting "extreme pressures".

Despite the Antrim Area Hospital incident being stood down, the Northern Trust said it was "not out of the woods yet".

Analysis: A significant and rare event

Declaring a major incident is very rare, and it's something that no health trust wants to do.

But the fact that we had a consultant putting their arms up and saying "we cannot cope beyond this point" is really significant.

It's an attempt by staff to keep the service running as safely as possible.

There was a partial diversion of ambulances away from the hospital, but I was told the hospital could not instruct a full one because other hospitals are also under extreme pressure.

It's almost like rallying the troops - when they put out a message like this, it really does bring all the health trusts round to work as a region, to work almost as one hospital.

It's also a way of saying to the public, only come to us if it is an emergency.

At 16:30 GMT on Monday, there were 281 patients waiting to be admitted to emergency departments across Northern Ireland, according to Ms Welsh.

She said Covid had played a "significant role" in the decision to call a potential major incident at Antrim Area Hospital, but also that it was partly due to the hospital not having enough beds.

Almost a third of patients there are Covid positive.

Jennifer Welsh says the Antrim Area Hospital has a "well-recognised" bed shortage

But, even if all the patients currently at the hospital were discharged, they would still be short of beds, she told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme.

"It is well recognised that we really do not have the beds for the population we serve," she said.

"We have about 28% of the population of Northern Ireland but we've only got about 12% of the bed stock in this area, so we have a very high demand and we really don't have enough beds."

She said Tuesday's decision "was not taken lightly" but would allow the hospital to get more help.

Ms Welsh said this pressure across emergency departments means that "the ability to help each other out is not there in the way it would have been in the past".