Altnagelvin fails emergency care waiting times targets

Derry’s Altnagelvin Area Hospital has failed to meet draft ministerial targets for emergency care waiting times for the year 2024/25 according to the most recent Health Department statistics.

The ‘Northern Ireland Hospital Statistics: Urgent and Emergency Care (2024/25)’ report published on July 9, 2025, contained annual statistics on activity and waiting times at emergency care departments (ED), in Northern Ireland during the year ending March 31, 2025.

It stated: “95% of patients attending any Type 1, 2 or 3 Emergency Department should be either treated and discharged home, or admitted, within four hours of their arrival in the Department; and no patient attending any Emergency Department should wait longer than 12 hours”.

The Report revealed that 59, 599 patients had presented at Altnagelvin’s Emergency Department in the previous 12 months.
Of those, only 17, 908 (30%) waited less than the target four hours for treatment and discharge or admission. 27, 556 (46.2%) waited between four and 12 hours, and 14, 135 (23.7%) waited more than 12 hours.

In the Western Health and Social Care Trust, Altnagelvin Area Hospital and South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen are classed as Type 1 Emergency Departments. These are full-service, consultant-led emergency departments that operate 24 hours a day, offering both emergency medicine and emergency surgical services.

Of the 41, 113 patients who presented at South West Acute Hospital last year, only 18, 567 (45%) waited less than the target four hours for treatment and discharge or admission. 15, 987 (38.9%) waited between four and 12 hours, and 6, 559 (16.0%) waited more than 12 hours.

The Trust’s other healthcare facilities, Altnagelvin’s Minor Injuries Unit and Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Complex, are Type 3 - units which are typically nurse or doctor-led and focus on treating minor injuries and illnesses.
Of the 10, 651 patients who presented at Altnagelvin’s Minor Injuries Unit, 10, 442 waited less than the target four hours for treatment and discharge or admission.

194 (1.8%) waited between four and 12 hours, and 15 (0.1%) waited more than 12 hours.
Of the 21, 611 patients who presented at Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Complex, 21, 089 (97.6%) waited less than the target four hours for treatment and discharge or admission. 522 (2.4%) waited between four and 12 hours, and none (0.0%) waited more than 12 hours.

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This means, although Altnagelvin’s Minor Injuries Unit met the draft Ministerial targets for 95% of patients to be treated and discharged home, or admitted, within four hours of their arrival in the Department, in the Western Health and Social care Trust, only Omagh Hospital and Primary Care Complex met the 95% within four hours and the no-one waiting over 12 hours targets.
Taken as a whole, 132, 974 patients presented at Trust Emergency Departments in the 12 months to March 31, 2025.

Of those, 68, 006 (51%) waited less than the target four hours for treatment and discharge or admission - 44% below target.
44, 259 waited between four and 12 hours and 20, 709 (15.6%) waited more than 12 hours.

The ‘Northern Ireland Hospital Statistics: Urgent and Emergency Care (2024/25)’ report also stated, in comparison with the year 2023/24, the number of new and unplanned review attendances at Emergency Departments across the North increased by 6,075 (0.8%), from 758,645 to 764,720 in 2024/25.

Performance against the 4 hour waiting times target decreased from 47.1% to 45.5%, and the number of patients spending over 12 hours in an Emergency Departments increased in 2024/25 (132,741) compared with 2023/24 (121,043).

In addition, following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/21, the number of patients spending over 12 hours in an ED increased markedly from 37,884 to 132,741 in 2024/25.