1,828 patients at Altnagelvin A&E needed ‘immediate’ or ‘very urgent’ treatment

There were 5,658 attendances at the Altnagelvin ED in June 2023 - a year-on-year increase of 358.

The local facility was the fifth busiest in the North during June.

In total 1,828 (32.3 per cent) of the 5,658 attendances were triaged at either red level 1, which means the patient required ‘immediate’ treatment within zero minutes, or at orange level 2 which indicates the patient was classed as ‘very urgent’ and should be treated within ten minutes.

The new figures have been published by the Department of Health.

They show that over half (50.2 per cent) of patients at the Altnagelvin ED commenced treatment, following triage, within 2 hours at the Altnagelvin A&E in June.

The number waiting over 12 hours at the Derry ED decreased from 1,049 in June 2022 to 965 in June 2023.

Just over one third (36.3%) of attendances at the Altnagelvin ED in June 2023 spent less than 4 hours in the department; the second best percentage after the Royal Victoria (35.4%).

In total 2,052 people were seen within four hours, 2,641 within between four and 12 hours, and 965 had to wait longer than 12 hours to be seen.

The figures were released by the Department of Health (DoH) in its latest published statistics on the time spent in emergency care departments (ED) throughout the North during the months of April, May and June 2023.

2,099 patients at Altnagelvin A&E in need of ‘immediate’ or ‘very urgent’ care