Northern Trust: 'Highly unusual' demand at A&E units
- Published
More than 70 patients were waiting for admission on Monday afternoon
More than 70 people are in accident and emergency units in the Northern Trust area awaiting hospital admission.
On Monday afternoon there were 72 patients waiting to be admitted between Antrim Area Hospital and the Causeway Hospital.
Dr Seamus O'Reilly, the trust's medical director, said the numbers were "highly unusual" outside winter months.
Most are believed to be frail and elderly people with some awaiting surgery.
Senior staff are meeting to draw up an action plan to deal with the issue.
Earlier on Monday, the trust tweeted an appeal urging patients and their families to co-operate with discharging to "free up much needed beds".
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
This comes after the South Eastern Trust warned on Sunday that the emergency department at Mid Ulster was "extremely busy" with 52 patients awaiting admission.
Dr O'Reilly said there were "significant" numbers waiting across the health service as a whole.
He said it was "highly likely" that many of those waiting affected on Monday afternoon would still be awaiting admission on Tuesday morning.
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster on Monday evening, he said: "They're sick patients that are requiring admission to hospital but there isn't a bed available for them.
"I'm 35 years in healthcare and I have never seen it in June to be as bad as I see it now. It would remind you of what we would be seeing after Christmas and in the winter period."
A spokesperson for the Northern Trust said: "Unfortunately, we do not have beds available for these patients and so we have appealed for full co-operation from patients, families and carers in supporting discharge and helping us free up much needed beds.
"This could well mean accepting a place that is not of your first choice.
"We apologise to everyone waiting, this is not what we would wish for our patients but please be assured our staff are doing all they can to reduce the waits and increase capacity and are working extremely hard against unrelenting pressure."
Related topics
- Published13 May 2022
- Published23 February 2022
