Statistics released by the Department of Health on emergency care waiting times show that the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) reported the shortest median waiting time for those who arrived in the Emergency Department (ED) until treatment in June, at 36 minutes.

According to the recently released statistics covering April to June, the median waiting times, time spent in the SWAH ED, and time spent before being admitted to the hospital or discharged, all showed a drop in the amount of time spent.

This 36-minute figure is a decrease of four minutes compared to June, 2021, when the median waiting time was 40 minutes.

It was also a decrease compared to April and May of 2022, which saw median waiting times of 51 minutes and 46 minutes respectively.

In June, Altnagelvin Hospital had the longest median waiting time – two hours and 12 minutes – of all Type 1 EDs across Northern Ireland.

Type 1 departments are defined as those with a consultant-led service with designated accommodation for the reception of emergency care patients, providing both emergency medicine and emergency surgical services on a round-the-clock basis.

The data also shows that patients who went to the SWAH ED in June had a median wait of eight hours and 28 minutes if they were to be admitted to the hospital, or three hours and five minutes to be discharged.

This also showed a decrease from April to May, when the times were 12 hours and 45 minutes, and eight hours and 37 minutes respectively.

These figures compare to times of seven hours and 11 minutes, and two hours 57 minutes respectively, from June 2021.

From April to June of this year, attendance at the SWAH ED went from 3,077 in April, to 3,364 in May, to 3,305 in June – by comparison, June 2021 saw the total number of ED attendances at the SWAH at 3,595.

The statistics also show that the SWAH ED had one of the highest percentages of referrals from GPs in Northern Ireland.

In June, this figure was 22.1 per cent; in May, it was 22.2 per cent; and April, 21.8 per cent.

By comparison, looking at Altnagelvin, the figure was 10.2 per cent, 10.4 per cent and 9.7 per cent from April to June.

Looking at attendances at the SWAH ED, from time spent to being discharged, for those waiting under four hours, the figure rose from 1,389 in April, to 1,819 in May, and 1,917 in June.

For a wait of between four and 12 hours, the figures for the three months were 1,165, 1,173 and 1,050 respectively.

For those waiting more than 12 hours in these months, the figures were 523, 372 and 338 respectively.