A&E Waiting Figures Fail NHS Targets

Roy Beggs MLA has said the latest statistics on waiting times in Accident and Emergency Departments within Northern Ireland’s hospitals make for disappointing reading. The new Ulster Unionist Party health spokesman highlighted the contrast between the A&E waiting times figures for hospitals in England and Northern Ireland in question time at Stormont this week. The East Antrim MLA has also highlighted the fact that the worst performing A&E is at Antrim Area Hospital.

The East Antrim MLA pointed out to Health Minister Poots, “In England over 95 % of patients at type 1 A&Es (full time departments in acute hospitals) are seen within four hours, yet the latest published figures in NI shows only 77.7% are seen within 4 hours. In fact a large number of patients are treated after a wait of 12 hours or more.” Mr Beggs went on to urge the Minister to improve GP out of hours services to ease the pressures on hospital A&Es.

Speaking later Roy Beggs said:
“In general the National Health Service does a good job and we are grateful to have it as a UK institution. However in Northern Ireland many people’s experiences of the NHS are negatively coloured by the length of time they have to wait in Accident and Emergency departments all over the country. The situation is far worse here than it is in the rest of United Kingdom. When you study in detail the Department of Health’s own figures, the only conclusion you can come to is that we are being treated like 2nd class citizens.”

The Ulster Unionist Health spokesman said he had drilled down into the published figures.
“There are NHS targets set for all of the UK which state than 95% of patients attending A&Es should be seen- either treated and discharged or admitted to a ward for further treatment- within 4 hours. In addition, no one should wait in an A&E Department for more than 12 hours. In the latest recorded period- July to September, an average of 95.9% of people were seen within 4 hours at English hospitals with fulltime A&Es. In Northern Ireland the average proportion seen within 4 hours is 78.5% for July, August and September. What is of particular concern is that this is down from 79.1% for the corresponding period last year.

The performance is of particular concern to myself and my East Antrim constituents. All three A&E serving families from East Antrim, namely Antrim, The RVH and the Mater treat less than 70% of patients within 4 hours. In other words over 30% of patients were not treated within 4 hours.

Daiseyhill in Newry and the South West Hospital are the only hospitals which come anywhere near to meeting the NHS target at 95%. In the 3 month period no one waited for longer than 12 hours at Daiseyhill or at the South West Hospital. Contrast that with Antrim Area Hospital, where 190 people waited longer than 12 hours between July and September. In those three months there were 17,924 people who attended A&E at Antrim, of whom 12,150 were seen within 4 hours which is 67.8%. Behind these figures lie human tragedies like the patient who died recently after waiting 22 hours on a trolley at Antrim, whilst six months ago an elderly man died in similar circumstances at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital.

When similar poor results were published in the spring of this year Minister Poots formed an Action Group and said he would not “accept poor or sub-standard services in our hospitals.” Well the figures have worsened between the corresponding period last year and now. The Minister is meant to be ultimately accountable. He needs to explain to the Health Committee, the Assembly and the public what he and his Department have been doing about this A&E crisis and why there has been a deterioration.”

ENDS
July to September Statistics…
http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/index/stats_research/hospitalstats/emergency_care3/emergency_care-monthly_waiting_times.htm
Comparison with last year: Since 2010/11, the percentage of patients treated and discharged or admitted within four hours of their arrival in an emergency care department has decreased by almost 2 percentage points from 82.0% (574,116) in 2010/11 to 80.2% (552,202) in 2011/12
http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/hospital_stats_emergency_care_2011-12.pdf
Performance at Type 1 Emergency Care Departments3
Table 3: Performance against the Ministerial Target for Emergency Care Waiting Times at
Type 1 Emergency Care Departments (July – September 2012) Type 1
Emergency
Care
Department Percentage Waiting 4 Hours and Under Number Waiting Over 12 Hours Total Attendances
(New and Unplanned Review)
Jul
2012 Aug
2012 Sep
2012 Jul
2012 Aug
2012 Sep
2012 Jul
2012 Aug
2012 Sep
2012
Altnagelvin Area 71.7% 83.4% 81.5% 2 0 0 4,478 4,615 4,421
South West Acute 91.7% 95.1% 94.4% 0 0 0 2,483 2,460 2,302
Antrim Area 67.8% 67.1% 68.5% 66 58 66 5,748 6,224 5,952
Causeway 81.9% 80.2% 86.0% 50 26 43 4,051 4,154 3,597
Craigavon Area 83.3% 85.3% 82.6% 1 1 0 5,716 5,991 5,929
Daisy Hill 95.3% 94.4% 93.1% 0 0 0 3,470 3,413 3,290
Royal Victoria 75.5% 69.7% 69.8% 3 3 2 7,726 7,937 8,454
Mater 73.1% 71.1% 67.6% 0 1 2 3,511 3,819 3,944
RBHSC 88.9% 89.3% 85.8% 0 0 0 2,359 2,374 2,928
Ulster 77.2% 78.3% 73.7% 11 7 182 6,821 7,038 7,215
Total 78.8% 78.9% 77.7% 133 96 295 46,363 48,025 48,032

Table 4: Performance against the Ministerial Target for Emergency Care Waiting Times at
Type 1 Emergency Care Departments (July 2011 – September 2012)4 Month Percentage Waiting 4
Hours and Under Number Waiting
Over 12 Hours Total Attendances (New and Unplanned Review)
July 2011 80.5% 342 47,746
August 2011 79.2% 447 48,096
September 2011 77.5% 538 46,847
October 2011 76.5% 823 47,094
November 2011 77.8% 558 43,472
December 2011 73.8% 989 44,033
January 2012 72.2% 1,467 44,500
February 2012 68.7% 1,438 44,951
March 2012 71.4% 968 49,061
April 2012 75.3% 636 45,968
May 2012 74.7% 466 49,390
June 2012 77.1% 259 46,625
July 2012 78.8% 133 46,363
August 2012 78.9% 96 48,025
September 2012 77.7% 295 48,032

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