EMERGENCY departments in hospitals across the North of Ireland were under huge pressure last night as an influx of extra patients led to long waiting times.
Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry had the longest waiting time of any hospital.
Patients were waiting 160 minutes to be seen.
The Western Trust said it was “experiencing high pressure in the A&E”.#
A spokespers0n added: “But this is similar to what we would usually experience during the busy holiday period”.
Last week the Trust had been warning the public not to be clogging up its emergency department with minor ailments.
The normal triage waiting time to initially assess a patient’s condition is supposed to be around 15 minutes.
At 9.20pm last night patients at the Mater Hospital were waiting an average of four times that — 61 minutes — with the Royal Victoria Hospitalat 35 minutes.
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