Tag Archives: A&E

Beggs questions planning behind staffing levels at new Antrim Area A&E Department

Ulster Unionist Health Spokesperson Roy Beggs MLA has questioned the planning behind the staffing levels at the new Accident and Emergency Department at Antrim Area Hospital which officially opens today (Wednesday 26 June 13). Roy Beggs MLA commented; “The problems at Antrim Area Hospital’s A&E Department have been well rehearsed over the past two years and I have previously highlighted the fact that the NHS waiting target of 95% of patients being seen within 4 hours has been routinely missed by large margins. The opening of the expanded Accident and Emergency Unit at Antrim should be a cause of optimism. However the good news has again been clouded with confusion about the planned staffing levels. We have been informed by a Trust official via the media that 20 new nurses have been recruited to work in the new unit. Yet recently my colleague Robin Swann, North Antrim UUP MLA put … Continue reading

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No Reassurance from Health Minister on A&E Waiting Times

East Antrim UUP MLA Roy Beggs has again raised the issue of waiting times at Casualty Units in Northern Ireland, in particular at Antrim Area Hospital. Questioning the Minister at Stormont, Mr Beggs said: During March and April, the main accident and emergency units in Northern Ireland saw the lowest proportion of patients treated within four hours ever recorded.  The figures show that one third of patients at Antrim Area Hospital are not seen within four hours and that, at the Causeway Hospital, it is about 30% of patients.  How can the Minister be confident that we are seeing something more significant than the normal seasonal adjustment as we approach the summer months?  How can he be sure that we are seeing significant improvement and changes and are starting to reach the 95% target that exists everywhere in the United Kingdom?” Replying, Health Minister Poots could give no assurances that … Continue reading

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Beggs hits out at latest “shocking” A&E Waiting Time statistics

Beggs hits out at latest “shocking” A&E Waiting Time statistics The Ulster Unionist Party’s Health spokesperson Roy Beggs MLA has described the latest statistics to be released (for April) regarding Accident & Emergency waiting time statistics as “truly shocking”. Mr Beggs said: “According to Provisional Emergency Care Waiting Time Information for April 2013, the percentage of patients being seen within four hours at A&E departments were 62.8% at Antrim Area, 61.6% at Craigavon Area, 61.3% at the Ulster Hospital and 59.5% at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. These are truly shocking statistics. Only last week the BBC reported how the NHS in England and Wales was deemed to be in crisis due to the number of hospitals whose A&E departments were failing to meet the 95% target for seeing patients within four hours. To put things in perspective, the statistics for last month show that in Northern Ireland only … Continue reading

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New Ward Opens at Antrim. New A&E in June

East Antrim MLA and Ulster Unionist spokesman on health Roy Beggs Jnr has welcomed the opening of a new 24 bed ward at Antrim Area hospital, and the imminent opening of a new Accident and Emergency unit at the crisis hit hospital. Mrs Beggs, in wake of continuing service failures and missed targets at Antrim A&E, placed an Assembly question to the Minister of Health, “Given that Antrim Area Hospital Accidents and Emergency Department was designed to deal with 30,000 patients per year but receives 72,000 patients per year, what additional resources have been made available to staff in the Accident and Emergency Department?” The Ministerial reply refers to the opening on 17th April of a new 24 bed ward and “a new £9M state of the art emergency has been constructed which will cater for up to 90,000 attendances a year. The new unit is expected to be operational … Continue reading

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Ulster Unionists oppose potential permanent closure of City Hospital A&E

 Ulster Unionist Health spokesperson, Roy Beggs MLA has reiterated his Party’s opposition to the closure of the City Hospital’s A&E unit, following the Health Minister’s statement today (Tuesday) in which he stated the preferred option would see the permanent closure of the unit. Roy said: … “When the Minister first announced that he was temporarily closing the Accident and Emergency unit at Belfast City Hospital, the Ulster Unionist Party warned of the dire consequences this decision would have should he not give the surrounding hospitals the support they needed to deal with the influx of extra patients.” “Our concerns have been confirmed by the steep drop in the number of patients being seen within the four hour target at the Royal Victoria and Mater Hospitals over the last three months of 2012.  In December 2012 the percentage of patients waiting four hours or less sat at 65.7% in the Royal … Continue reading

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