Emergency Care Waiting Time Statistics (January – March 2025)
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 2025.
The statistical bulletin presents information on all new and unplanned review attendances during January, February, and March 2025. 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 that will create 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 existing systems that do not currently communicate effectively.
The programme was first introduced in the South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust on 9 November 2023, the Belfast HSC Trust on 6 June 2024, and the Northern HSC Trust on 7thNovember 2024, and will be rolled out on a phased basis across the remaining HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland by the end of 2025. Figures in the report for Belfast, Northern and South Eastern HSC Trust sourced from the encompass system are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’.
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 2025, 17,646 calls / attendances were received by PhoneFirst (assessment of patient’s needs prior to arrival at an ED) and Urgent Care Centre services. A total of 8,024 (45.5%) of these resulted in a referral to an ED, whilst 9,622 patients did not get referred to an ED.
- During March 2025, 67,871 patients in total attended an ED, and 3,330 attended an Urgent Care Centre without further referral to a Type 1 ED; a total of 71,201 patients attended all urgent and emergency care services.
Emergency Care Attendances:
- During March 2025, there were 67,871 attendances at EDs in Northern Ireland, 2,573 (3.9%) more than in March 2024 (65,298).
- Of the 67,871 ED attendances during March 2025, 55,179 (81.3%) had attended a Type 1 ED, 3,493 (5.1%) attended a Type 2 ED and 9,199 (13.6%) attended a Type 3 ED.
- Between March 2024 and March 2025, attendances increased at Type 1 EDs (100, 0.2%), Type 2 EDs (655, 23.1%) and Type 3 EDs (1,818, 24.6%).
- There were 184,753 attendances at EDs during the quarter ending 31 March 2025 (January, February, March), 0.8% (1,450) less than during the same quarter in 2024 (186,203).
Left before Treatment Complete:
- During March 2025, 6.8% of all ED attendances left before their treatment was complete, compared with 8.0% in March 2024.
Unplanned Re-Attendances within 7 Days:
- During March 2025, 4.4% of the 67,871 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 2025, over one in nine (11.8%) attendances at EDs had been referred by a GP, compared with 17.8% in March 2024.
Time Spent in Emergency Care Departments:
Performance against Targets
- Over a third (34.2%) of attendances at Type 1 EDs in March 2025 spent less than 4 hours in ED, compared with 83.9% at Type 2 EDs and 91.5% at Type 3 EDs.
- During the quarter ending 31 March 2025 (January, February, March), over two fifths (44.4%) of patients spent less than 4 hours at an ED, more than in the same quarter in 2024 (42.8%).
- Over four fifths (83.9%) of patients attending a Type 2 ED in March 2025 were treated and discharged, or admitted within 4 hours of their arrival, compared with 73.0% in March 2024.
- Over nine in ten (91.5%) patients attending a Type 3 ED in March 2025 were treated and discharged, or admitted within 4 hours of their arrival, a decrease from 93.1% in March 2024.
- Between March 2024 and March 2025, the number waiting over 12 hours decreased from 11,767 to 10,827 in March 2025, accounting for 16.0% of attendances in March 2025.
Time to Triage:
- During March 2025, the median waiting time from arrival at an ED to triage (initial assessment) by a medical professional was 13 minutes, with 95 percent of patients having their care needs assessed for the first time by a medical professional within 1 hour 9 minutes of arrival.
Time to Start of Treatment:
- During March 2025, the median waiting time from triage to the start of treatment by a medical professional was 1 hour 23 minutes, with 95 percent of patients receiving treatment within 8 hours 18 minutes of being triaged.
- Almost three fifths (59.8%) of patients attending EDs in March 2025 commenced their treatment within 2 hours of being triaged, more than in March 2024 (57.2%).
Total Time in Emergency Care Department:
- The median time patients who were discharged home (not admitted) spent in a Type 1 ED was 4 hours 48 minutes in March 2025, 3 minutes more than the time taken during the same month last year (4 hours 45 minutes).
- The median time patients who were admitted to hospital spent in a Type 1 ED was 13 hours 23 minutes in March 2025, 2 hours 7 minutes less than the same month last year (15 hours 30 minutes).
- During March 2025, Causeway reported the longest median time spent in ED from arrival to admission (21 hours 33 minutes), whilst the RBHSC reported the shortest time (6 hours 4 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 Northern Ireland. The figures do not include planned review attendances.
- 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)).
- 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.’
- 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.
- 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.
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. (link below)
Emergency Care Waiting Time Statistics – Additional Guidance
- 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 below.
- There are three separate categories of emergency care facility included in this publication:
Type 1 Department A consultant led 24 hour service with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of emergency care patients.
Type 2 Department A consultant led mono specialty emergency care service (e.g. ophthalmology, dental) with designated accommodation for the reception of patients.
Type 3 Department Other 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.
- Figures incorporate all returns and amendments received from HSC Trusts up to Monday 14th April 2025.
- 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
- For media enquiries please contact the DoH Press Office by email pressoffice@health-ni.gov.uk.
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