Earlier today, the NI Direct website’s guide to waiting times showed a wait of some 6,369 minutes at Daisy Hill Hospital’s Emergency Department.
That wait works out at over 106 hours, or nearly four-and-a-half days, while other hospitals had waits of up to four hours at worst.
A Southern Trust spokesperson said earlier that the longest current waiting time at Daisy Hill Hospital was three hours and seven minutes.
By 8pm, the online glitch in the numbers on the nidirect website appeared to have been fixed, with Daisy Hill’s figure dropping to 112 minutes, shortly under two hours.
As of 5pm, Craigavon Area Hospital had the shortest waiting time (86 minutes), followed by both the Mater and Causeway Hospitals on 105 minutes.
Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry
Patients were waiting an average of 162 minutes – almost three hours – at the Royal Victoria Hospital, while an average wait of 207 minutes at the Ulster Hospital.
Patients at Antrim Area Hospital had the second longest wait at 285 minutes, 4.75 hours.
The Department of Health (DoH) has been approached for comment on what caused the error.
The most recent post on social media run by the five trusts relating to ED waiting times was on December 27, when the Western Trust warned the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) was “extremely busy”.
Emergency departments (EDs) in NI have been under pressure
Up to 32,000 people have died while waiting on healthcare waiting lists in NI over the last three years
It comes after this newspaper revealed up to 32,000 patients had died while on NI health trust waiting lists since 2022.
Up to 868 patients passed away after languishing on the list for more than a decade.
While no assumption can be made that their deaths were directly linked to waiting on treatment, it is clear that many people are spending their final days in pain and discomfort and without the treatment they need.
SDLP health spokesperson Colin McGrath said the figures were “shocking but sadly not surprising”.
“Health care is simply not available when people need it. That alone should give us all pause,” he said.
“No one is claiming that every death was directly caused by waiting for treatment, but it would be disingenuous to pretend that years spent waiting, often in pain or declining health, had no impact.”