Craigavon has better A&E waiting times

Since a massive peak in April when 56 people were left waiting for more than 12 hours at Craigavon Emergency Department, the June figures have slumped to just one person having to wait.

Fewer people are also waiting between four and 12 hours, with the June figure down to 1,407 patients, compared to 1,445 last month and 2,294 in April.

However more patients are waiting up to four hours. June saw 4,663 patients waiting for that length of time compared to 3,776 in April.

There are also fewer people waiting up to four hours at Craigavon since this time last year, when 4,833 were tallied as waiting that long.

And 1,126 patients had to wait between four and 12 hours in June last year though none had to wait more than 12 hours.

According to the Department of Health statistics, during June 2013, just 77.8% of patients attending Type 1 emergency care departments across Northern Ireland were either treated and discharged home, or admitted within four hours, compared with 90.6% attending Type 2 departments and 100.0% attending Type 3 departments.

The number of patients waiting longer than 12 hours to be either treated and discharged home, or admitted, decreased markedly (759,75.3 per cent) from 1,008 to 249.

In particular, performance improved most notably at the notorious Antrim Area Hospital between April and June, from 335 to 0.

This hospital had received regular criticism over recent years particularly in relation to long waiting times at its emergency department.

In Type 1 emergency care departments, the percentage of patients attending that were either treated and discharged home or admitted within four hours increased by 0.7%, from 77.1% to 77.8%.

The number of patients that waited longer than 12 hours to be either treated and discharged home, or admitted, decreased slightly (6, 2.4%) from 255 to 249. In particular, performance improved notably at the Antrim Area Hospital, from 93 to 0.

There were a total of 58,319 attendances at emergency care departments in Northern Ireland during June 2013, compared with 59,948 in May 2013 and 59,275 in April 2013.