Concern over Strep symptoms led to a “huge increase” in attendance at Antrim Hospital’s emergency department (ED) during the Christmas period, Northern Health and Social Care Trust board members have heard.
Neil Martin, the Trust’s divisional director of Strategic Planning, Performance and ICT, told last week’s meeting:
“There were a lot of worried parents bringing children with temperatures to EDs.
“Paediatric was up 72 per cent compared to 2019/20 at Antrim.”
Mr Martin reported a 29 per cent increase in paediatric attendance at ED in the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine during the holiday period.
He also noted: “Discharge on Christmas Eve this year was much lower than traditionally because Christmas Eve was on a Saturday.”
He went on to say that bed occupancy at Antrim Hospital peaked during the New Year weekend.
Board chairperson Bob McCann commented:
“We are consistently by far the busiest of any of the hospitals in ED for ambulance arrival. I think that is a very significant statistic.”