Durkan asks for geographical breakdown of 1,032 excess deaths due to long waits in EDs
Foyle MLA Mark Durkan has asked for a geographic breakdown of over one thousand reported excess deaths linked to long waits in Emergency Departments in the North.
Mr. Durkan called for urgent action on the ‘growing crisis’ in our Emergency Departments following a Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) report which found that in 2025, 1,032 excess deaths were associated with waits of 12 or more hours in EDs while awaiting admission.
That year-long figure is the equivalent of almost 20 lives lost each week.
While the overall death figure is slightly lower than in 2024 (1,122) and 2023 (1,063), the report, showed that the estimated mortality figure has more than doubled over five years.
Speaking at Stormont Mr. Durkan said: “The sad fact is that there are people who, despite being really sick, do not want to go to an emergency department for this very reason.”
“Given the links with overcrowding and long waits — I have raised the issue of Altnagelvin ED many times — do we have a geographical breakdown of those deaths?” he asked the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt.
Mr. Nesbitt replied: “I do not have a geographical breakdown, but I can certainly ask whether one can be made available or whether we can do the research to provide the Member with one.
"It is not good enough. Yes, we say that those figures are shocking, but they are very similar to those for last year and the year before. In one sense, they should not be shocking, but they are shocking because of their scale.”