A & E waitingtimes increase

THE percentage of A&E patients forced to wait between four and 12 hours for treatment at Altnagelvin last year was the third highest in Northern Ireland.

By The Newsroom

Published 9th Aug 2010, 13:53 BST

Updated 9th Aug 2010, 22:40 BST

Almost 12,000 A&E attendees waited over four hours at the Londonderry hospital. This was 22 per cent of the total 56,910 attendees in 2009/10.

This was over the Northern Ireland average of 15 per cent and only in Antrim and Belfast City did a greater percentage of patients wait this long to be treated.

The number of patients waiting for over 12 hours was 76 - an inconvenience for those in question - but statistically insignificant in terms of the latest Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) report on hospital waiting times.

A total of 53,476 (94 per cent) A&E attendances at Altnagelvin were new last year with just 3,434 (8 per cent) review attendances.