The Accident and Emergency Unit at the South West Acute Hospital
THE latest waiting times at the Emergency Department at the South West Acute Hospital, have been praised by UUP MLA Tom Elliott.
His welcome follows initial teething problems after its opening in June 2012.
“Some time ago”, he stated, “I raised the issue of the new hospital having some teething problems in relation to a number of issues, including the time for waiting at the Emergency Department.”
For that reason, he said he was pleased at the most recent figures released from the Department of Health (for November and December 2012).
“They demonstrate that the South West hospital is performing well above any other fully operational Emergency Department in Northern Ireland regarding waiting times”, he added.
In the most recent figures released, the hospital has a rate of 91% waiting less than 4 hours in the Emergency Department.
This compares to a Northern Ireland average of 75.4%, with other hospitals figures much below the South West, including, Royal Victoria, 65.7%, Antrim, 61.7%, Craigavon, 71.3% and Altnagelvin, 76.2%.
Back in August of last year, Mr Elliott had suggested that low staffing could have been the catalyst for complaints he’d received over long waiting times.
Then, he said: “Clearly I’ve had a number of complaints, some refer to the emergency department and the time that people have to wait, a long amount of time.”
He added that ‘a lot of wards seem to be understaffed from what I’ve been told’.
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