Worried parents caused 'huge increase' at casualty over Christmas

Concern over Strep symptoms led to a “huge increase” in attendance at Antrim Hospital’s emergency department (ED) during the Christmas period, Northern Health Trust board members have heard.
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Neil Martin, the Trust’s divisional director of Strategic Planning, Performance and ICT, told last week’s meeting: “There were a lot of worried parents bringing children with temperatures to EDs.

“Paediatric was up 72 per cent compared to 2019/20 at Antrim.”

Mr Martin reported a 29 per cent increase in paediatric attendance at ED in the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine during the holiday period.

Antrim HospitalAntrim Hospital
Antrim Hospital

He also noted: “Discharge on Christmas Eve this year was much lower than traditionally because Christmas Eve was on a Saturday.”

He went on to say that bed occupancy at Antrim Hospital peaked during the New Year weekend.

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Board chairperson Bob McCann commented: “We are consistently by far the busiest of any of the hospitals in ED for ambulance arrival. I think that is a very significant statistic.”

Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter