Health Minister makes unannounced visit to Antrim Area Hospital Emergency Department

Last night the Health Minister, Edwin Poots, paid an unannounced visit to Antrim Area Hospital to see at first hand the pressures on the Emergency Department (ED).
~ Tuesday, 24 January 2012

The Minister said: “Last night I paid a visit to Antrim Area Hospital to see for myself the situation in the Emergency Department following the recent high levels of activity and delays there.

“Staff at the hospital have worked very hard in recent days to implement immediate measures to improve services and I wanted to see at first hand how the changes were beginning to impact.

“I met both night staff and patients and was impressed by the professionalism, level of care and consideration shown to patients.

“While at the hospital, I also visited the neonatal and the coronary care units. Again I was assured of the commitment, dedication and care shown by staff to patients who are particularly vulnerable.

“The public can also play its part by only attending an ED when it is absolutely necessary to do so. For minor clinical conditions or minor injuries where advice or treatment are required, people should seek advice, in the first instance, from their GP, the GP out of hours service or their local pharmacist.”

Notes to editors:

1. Steps taken by the HSC board and the Northern Trust to improve services include:

• Enhanced GP cover and greater use of the 65 intermediate care beds in the community in order to speed up discharge and prevent admission
• Further exploration of improved access to out-of-hours GP services
• Improved hospital discharge arrangements
• Additional emergency theatre time
• Additional cardiology time for Belfast Trust to enhance the timely transfer of patients
• Extra nurses, and that
• 28 additional beds in Antrim remain open.

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