Emergency Care Waiting Time Statistics (January – March 2026)
Date published:
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 2026.
The statistical bulletin presents information on all new and unplanned review attendances during January, February, and March 2026. 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.
Encompass is a new electronic patient record system with a single digital care record for every citizen in Northern Ireland who receives health and social care. It aims to create better experiences for patients, service users and staff by bringing together information from various legacy health systems into one administrative system.
Encompass was first introduced in the South Eastern Health and Social (HSC) Trust on 9th November 2023, the Belfast HSC Trust on 6 June 2024, the Northern HSC Trust on 7 November 2024, and was rolled out to Southern and Western HSC Trusts on 8 May 2025.
The statistics within this publication has been assessed to the standard of Accredited Official Statistics, however during implementation and stabilisation of the change of data source to the encompass system, they are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’ which are a subset of Official Statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. While caution must be exercised when using these figures, they are a meaningful representation of what they measure and are of sufficient quality for publication and use.
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 2026, 16,563 calls were received by Phone First (assessment of patient’s needs prior to arrival at an ED). A total of 10,743 (64.9%) of these resulted in a referral to an ED, whilst 5,820 patients did not get referred to an ED.
- During March 2026, there were 72,086 attendances at EDs in Northern Ireland, 837 (1.2%) more than in March 2025 (71,249).
- Of the 72,086 ED attendances during March 2026, 55,823 (77.4%) had attended a Type 1 ED and 16,263 (22.6%) attended a Type 3 ED.
- Between March 2025 and March 2026, attendances increased at Type 1 EDs (506, 0.9%) and increased at Type 3 EDs (3,829, 30.8%). (Please note changes in ED designation of UCCs and Type 2 EDs to Type 3 EDs will have impacted these figures.)
- There were 201,992 attendances at EDs during the quarter ending 31 March 2026 (January, February and March), 3.8% (7,467) more than the same quarter in 2025 (194,525).
Please note that the remainder of the key points excludes Type 3 departments Craigavon and Daisy Hill UCCs, as these services’ data is held on the GP system and not on encompass.
Left before Treatment Complete:
- During March 2026, 6.7% of all ED attendances left before their treatment was complete, similar to March 2025 (6.7%).
Unplanned Re-Attendances within 7 Days:
- During March 2026, 5.1% of the 72,086 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 2026, one in eight (12.5%) attendances at EDs had been referred by a GP, compared with 13.4% in March 2025.
Time Spent in Emergency Care Departments:
Performance against Targets:
- Over three tenths (30.8%) of attendances at Type 1 EDs in March 2026 spent less than 4 hours in ED, compared with 82.7% at Type 3 EDs.
- During the quarter ending 31 March 2026, over two fifths (40.2%) of patients spent less than 4 hours at an ED, less than in the same quarter in 2025 (43.6%).
- Over four fifths (82.7%) of patients attending a Type 3 ED in March 2026 were treated and discharged, or admitted within 4 hours of their arrival, a decrease from 84.9% in March 2025.
- Since March 2025, the number waiting over 12 hours increased from 10,977 to 12,549 in March 2026, accounting for 17.4% of all attendances in March 2026.
Time to Triage:
- During March 2026, the median waiting time from arrival at an ED to triage (initial assessment) by a medical professional was 15 minutes, with 95 percent of patients having their care needs assessed for the first time by a medical professional within 1 hour 20 minutes of arrival.
Time to Start of Treatment:
- During March 2026, the median waiting time from triage to the start of treatment by a medical professional was 1 hour 47 minutes, with 95 percent of patients receiving treatment within 9 hours 41 minutes of being triaged.
Target to Commence Treatment within 2 Hours of Triage (80%):
- Over half (52.9%) of patients attending EDs in March 2026 commenced their treatment within 2 hours of being triaged, less than in March 2025 (61.1%).
Total Time in Type 1 Emergency Care Department:
- The median time patients who were discharged home (not admitted) spent in a Type 1 ED was 5 hours 20 minutes in March 2026, 32 minutes more than the time taken during the same month last year (4 hours 48 minutes).
- The median time patients who were admitted to hospital spent in a Type 1 ED was 14 hours 22 minutes in March 2026, 54 minutes more than the same month last year (13 hours 28 minutes).
- During March 2026, Altnagelvin Area reported the longest median time spent in ED from arrival to admission (21 hours 28 minutes), whilst the RBHSC reported the shortest time (6 hours 16 minutes).
Notes to editors:
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 draft Ministerial targets for emergency care waiting times state that:
‘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.’
‘[…] 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 Accredited Official 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. Please note, patients with lower acuity can attend more appropriate services available at Minor Injury Units (MIU) and avoid potentially longer attendances at a Type 1 Emergency Department (ED). Prior to the introduction of MIUs, these patients would have otherwise attended a Type 1 ED and would have generally been discharged within 4 hours. As such, this will result in an increase to the percentage of patients at Type 1 EDs who wait longer than 4 hours.
6. Please note that some changes to the designation of hospitals within this publication has taken place as of 1 April 2025:
- Downe and Lagan Valley Type 2 EDs were redesignated as Type 3 EDs in line with departmental definitions; and
- Urgent Care Centres are reported as Type 3 EDs alongside Minor Injury Units as they are providing equivalent services.
7. Please note: Figures on time from arrival to triage and from triage to treatment are based on valid triage and valid treatment instances, respectively. In Southern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust data quality issues have been identified in encompass data which mean the number of valid triage instances and valid treatment instances recorded is lower than usual. This is being investigated as part of a data validation exercise.
8. 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 Emergency Care Waiting Time Statistics – Additional Guidance
9. The DoH collaborated with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), together with colleagues in England, Scotland and Wales to produce a summary report of the cross-UK comparability of emergency care waiting time statistics from January 2013 to September 2023. The report can be viewed or downloaded using the link https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/accidentandemergencywaittimesacrosstheuk/2024-02-28
10. There are three separate categories of emergency care facility included in this publication:
Type 1 DepartmentA consultant led 24 hour service with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of emergency care patients.
Type 2 DepartmentA consultant led mono specialty emergency care service (e.g. ophthalmology, dental) with designated accommodation for the reception of patients.
Type 3 DepartmentOther 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.
11. Figures incorporate all returns and amendments received from HSC Trusts up to Friday 10th April 2026.
12. Further information on Emergency Care Statistics is available from:
Hospital Waits Information Branch
Department of Health
Annexe 2, Castle Buildings
Stormont,
BT4 3SQ
Email: statistics@health-ni.gov.uk
Internet: DoH Statistics and Research
13. For media enquiries please contact DoH Press Office by e-mail: pressoffice@health-ni.gov.uk
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15. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800 hrs and 0800 hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.