Within the last two month the Northern Health & Social Care Trust have embarked or a promotional campaign in every council area stating that the new A&E at Antrim due to open in Spring 2013 will be of benefit to local people, while this claim is based on assumptions and very questionable data, there is guarantee that the service will get faster or better. However what concerns patients most is what is happening now.
When comparing hospital statistics it is best to compare months on a yearly pattern, this avoids confusing performance with seasonal variances. The summer months are historically the quiets times in A&E’s across Northern Ireland.
Even with less people attending the A&E in 2012 than in 2011 the performance has got worse, how or why is it when the NHSCT tell us they are continuously improving services are we seeing worse performances for treating less people?
The Performance report from the NHSCT states for July that only 67% (3,897) patients who presented at A&E were treated in under 4 hours at Antrim A&E, in stark contrast to July 2011 where 71% (4,357) patients were treated in under 4 hours.