53% dip in Derry A&Eadmissions a ‘concern’

Geraldine McKay, Director of Acute Services at the Western Trust, revealed that the number of people presenting at A&E in Altnagelvin actually plummeted as Derry braced for an expected coronavirus surge.

“In March to April of this year we have had a 46 per cent reduction in ED demand in Altnagelvin Hospital.

“That’s a reduction in the number attending our ED and a 53 per cent reduction in admissions,” she said.

A similar pattern was observed at the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen where there was a 40 per cent reduction in demand a 56 per cent reduction in admissions compared to the same period last year.

Mrs. McKay said the number of people coming though the doors at the A&E department on the Glenshane Road reduced massively at the start of the emergency.

On an average day at Altnagelvin the Trust normally expects between 200 to 230 people to present at A&E at this time of year.

Some of these patients would be suffering from severe and potentially life-threatening conditions such as strokes and heart attacks. But A&E attendances in Derry collapsed in March.

“From week 1 to 4 our attendances dropped away back to maybe 80 per day so there was a huge drop.

“They are now starting to come up again. We are back up about 130 to 170 depending on the day.”

Mrs. McKay said the Trust’s directors had been ‘really concerned’ by this drop-off in people showing up at emergency facilities.

“We were really concerned. We weren’t seeing patients with chest pains. We weren’t seeing patients with stroke symptoms, etcetera. All the normal attendances we would see on a daily basis,” she explained.

In order to ensure people exhibiting symptoms of serious cardiovascular illness got the treatment they needed during the COVID-19 crisis triage lines were set up in both Derry and Omagh.

Staff at the Altnagelvin cardiac investigations department fielded calls from patients experiencing chest pain and other cardiovascular complaints and were directed along the correct care paths.

“I know that in the weeks since we set this up, which is two-and-a-half weeks, three weeks at a maximum we have had 123 patients who have used the triage line here and 15 of those patients were admitted to be treated,” said Mrs. McKay.