Emergency Care Waiting Time Statistics (January - March 2024)

The Department of Health (DoH) today published statistics on the time spent in emergency care departments (ED) throughout Northern Ireland during the months of January, February, and March 2024.

The statistical bulletin presents information on all new and unplanned review attendances during January, February, and March 2024. It details information on the time spent in EDs during each of these months including; the monthly performance against the DoH emergency care waiting times target for EDs and the time waited for key milestones during a patient’s journey through ED, whilst they are being cared for in an ED, including the time to triage and time to start of treatment.

Urgent and emergency care data for clinical care episodes completed on or after 9 November 2023 in South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust are still being developed following the Trust’s transition to completely digitised health records. Therefore, South Eastern HSC Trust data has been excluded from all analysis in this report to allow for comparisons to be made with the four remaining HSC Trusts at previous time points. As such, all Department Type and Northern Ireland level figures presented throughout this report only include those for Belfast, Northern, Southern and Western Health and Social Care Trusts. In the interim, some provisional figures have been produced for South Eastern HSC Trust covering only the current quarter January - March 2024. These are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’. Caution must be exercised when using these figures as they may be subject to change and should not be used to make comparisons over time.

Please note that this statistical release includes information on two new urgent care services (i) PhoneFirst and (ii) Urgent Care Centres, which were introduced in late 2020, to assess patients’ needs before arrival at an ED, and ensure they receive the right care, at the right time, and in the right place, outside ED if appropriate. These new services may in part help explain the reduction in the number of patients attending EDs.

This information release is published on the Emergency Care Waiting Times Website.

Key Points

Attendances at Emergency Care Departments:

Urgent and Emergency Care Attendances:

• In March 2024, 12,910 calls / attendances were received by PhoneFirst and Urgent Care Centre services, from patients who may previously have attended an ED. A total of 2,171 (16.8%) resulted in an attendance at an ED, whilst 10,739 patients did not go on to attend an ED.
• During March 2024, 52,931 patients in total attended an ED, and 10,739 attended PhoneFirst / Urgent Care Centre services without further referral to an ED; a total of 63,670 patients attended all urgent and emergency care services.

Emergency Care Attendances:

• During March 2024, there were 52,931 attendances at EDs in Northern Ireland, 307 (0.6%) less than in March 2023 (53,238).
• Of the 52,931 ED attendances during March 2024, 47,763 (90.2%) had attended a Type 1 ED, 834 (1.6%) attended a Type 2 ED and 4,334 (8.2%) attended a Type 3 ED.
• Between March 2023 and March 2024, attendances decreased at Type 1 EDs (672, 1.4%), and increased at Type 2 EDs (151, 22.1%) and Type 3 EDs (214, 5.2%).
• There were 150,382 attendances at EDs during the quarter ending 31 March 2024 (January, February, March), 2.5% (3,624) more than during the same quarter in 2023 (146,758).

Left before Treatment Complete:

• During March 2024, 9.0% of all ED attendances left before their treatment was complete, compared with 8.0% in March 2023.

Unplanned Re-Attendances within 7 Days:

• During March 2024, 3.8% of the 52,931 ED attendances were unplanned review attendances who had returned to the same ED within 7 days of their original attendance for the same condition.

Referrals by GP:

• During March 2024, almost one in five (18.9%) attendances at EDs had been referred by a GP, compared with 19.8% in March 2023.

Time Spent in Emergency Care Departments:

Performance against Targets

• Almost two fifths (38.1%) of attendances at Type 1 EDs in March 2024 spent less than 4 hours in ED, compared with 78.3% at Type 2 EDs and 98.8% at Type 3 EDs.
• During the quarter ending 31 March 2024 (January, February, March), less than half (42.7%) of patients spent less than 4 hours at an ED, less than in the same quarter in 2023 (47.2%).
• Over three quarters (78.3%) of patients attending a Type 2 ED in March 2024 were treated and discharged, or admitted within 4 hours of their arrival, compared with 76.0% in March 2023.
• Almost all (98.8%) patients attending a Type 3 ED in March 2024 were treated and discharged, or admitted within 4 hours of their arrival, a decrease from 99.0% in March 2023.
• Between March 2023 and March 2024, the number waiting over 12 hours increased from 8,730 to 9,443, accounting for 17.8% of attendances in March 2024.

Time to Triage:

• During March 2024, the median waiting time from arrival at an ED to triage (initial assessment) by a medical professional was 13 minutes, with 95 percent of patients having their care needs assessed for the first time by a medical professional within 1 hour 14 minutes of arrival.

Time to Start of Treatment:

• During March 2024, the median waiting time from triage to the start of treatment by a medical professional was 1 hour 33 minutes, with 95 percent of patients receiving treatment within 8 hours 15 minutes of being triaged.
• Almost three fifths (57.3%) of patients attending EDs in March 2024 commenced their treatment within 2 hours of being triaged, more than in March 2023 (57.0%).

Total Time in Emergency Care Department:

• The median time patients who were discharged home (not admitted) spent in a Type 1 ED was 4 hours 29 minutes in March 2024, 13 minutes more than the time taken during the same month last year (4 hours 16 minutes).
• The median time patients who were admitted to hospital spent in a Type 1 ED was 15 hours 11 minutes in March 2024, 59 minutes more than the same month last year (14 hours 12 minutes).
• During March 2024, Craigavon Area reported the longest median time spent in ED from arrival to admission (20 hours 23 minutes), whilst the RBHSC reported the shortest time (5 hours 58 minutes).

Notes to editors: 

1. This statistical bulletin reports the total time spent in an ED from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge for all new and unplanned review attendances at emergency care departments across NI. The figures do not include planned review attendances.

2. Time is measured from when a patient arrives at the ED (time of arrival is recorded at registration or triage whichever is earlier (clock starts)) until the patient departs the ED (time of departure is defined as when the patient's clinical care episode is completed within the ED (clock stops)).

3. The current draft Ministerial targets for emergency care waiting times in 2023/24 state that:

‘From April 2023, 95% of patients attending any Type 1, 2 or 3 Emergency Care Department are either treated and discharged home, or admitted, within four hours of their arrival in the department; and no patient attending any Emergency Care Department should wait longer than 12 hours.’

‘By March 2024, at least 80% of patients to have commenced treatment, following triage, within 2 hours.’

4. Information which presents a summary of the emergency care clinical quality indicators for Northern Ireland has also been included in this release. This information is not National Statistics but has been included to provide a more comprehensive and balanced view of the care delivered by EDs and reflects the experience of patients and the timeliness of the care they receive.

5. Readers are advised to be cautious when making direct comparisons between Northern Ireland and other UK Jurisdictions as waiting times may not be measured in a comparable manner.  It should also be noted that the way in which emergency care services are delivered differs between UK jurisdictions. This means that the number and types of patients included in the figures may differ between countries. In particular, the 12-hour waiting time information published by England and Northern Ireland is not equivalent and should not be compared. Further information on comparability between Northern Ireland and other UK Jurisdictions are included in the ‘Emergency Care Waiting Time Statistics – Additional Guidance’ booklet. (link below)

Emergency Care Waiting Time Statistics – Additional Guidance

6. The DoH have liaised with colleagues in England, Scotland and Wales to clarify differences between the emergency care waiting times reported for each administration and have produced a guidance document to provide readers with a clear understanding of these differences (link below).

Emergency Care UK Comparative Waiting Times PDF (25KB)

7. There are three separate categories of emergency care facility included in this publication:

Type 1 Department     A consultant led 24 hour service with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of emergency care patients.

Type 2 Department     A consultant led mono specialty emergency care service (e.g. ophthalmology, dental) with designated accommodation for the reception of patients.

Type 3 Department     Other type of ED/minor injury activity with designated accommodation for the reception of emergency care patients. The department may be doctor led, general practitioner led or nurse led and treats at least minor injuries and illnesses and can be routinely accessed without appointment. A service mainly or entirely appointment based (for example a GP Practice or Out-Patient Clinic) is excluded even though it may treat a number of patients with minor illness or injury. Includes Urgent Treatment Centres.

8. Figures incorporate all returns and amendments received from HSC Trusts up to Thursday 18th April 2024.

9. Further information on Emergency Care Statistics is available from:
    Hospital Information Branch
    Department of Health
    Annexe 2, Castle Buildings
    Stormont,
    BT4 3SQ
    Email:              statistics@health-ni.gov.uk
    Internet:              DoH Statistics and Research

10. For media enquiries please contact the DoH Press Office by email pressoffice@health-ni.gov.uk.

11. Follow us on X @healthdpt and linkedIn Department of Health NI | LinkedIn

12. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service For Media Enquiries Only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

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