Covid-19: Northern Ireland's A&Es remain under 'extreme pressure'

Health trusts have appealed for people to stay away from hospitals except in cases of medical emergency.

It is the second day emergency departments (EDs) have been under "extreme pressure".

Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital said there were 95 people in its ED, some waiting for admittance, others having being triaged and awaiting treatment.

Antrim Area Hospital had 94 people in its ED as of 15:20 BST, again all at various stages of treatment.

A spokeswoman for the Belfast Trust said the Royal's ED had seen 546 people over the weekend.

The Northern Trust said 486 people had been through Antrim Hospital's ED over the weekend, and 247 at Causeway Hospital.

At about 15:20 BST on Monday, there were 44 people in Causeway's ED.

The South Eastern Trust said the Ulster Hospital was under extreme pressure and asked people to consider other options of care if their condition was not urgent.

More than 60 people were waiting in Altnagelvin Hospital ED, with 24 waiting to be admitted to the hospital, according to the Western Trust.

In a tweet, the Southern Trust said Craigavon ED was very busy, with staff expecting the department to get even busier.

"Expect extremely long waiting times as Covid-19 continues to impact on bed pressures," the trust said.

A total of 47 people are waiting to be seen at the South West Acute Hospital ED, with 21 people waiting to be admitted, the Western Trust tweeted.

The tweet appealed for people to only attend the ED if they have a medical or mental health emergency, urging those with minor injuries to attend Omagh Urgent Care and Treatment Centre.

Dr Tom Black, chairman of British Medical Association NI, said it feels like winter in terms of the "needs, wants and demands of patients".

"There's a combination of different factors," he said.

"People are getting older, they're getting sicker, we've got a Covid pandemic and also we've got the worst waiting lists in western Europe and it all piles pressure on to the health care workers in the ED departments because that's where the bottleneck is.

"We've a very difficult autumn ahead of us, a very difficult winter ahead, but hopefully some light at the end of the tunnel next spring."

Dr Alan Stout, chairman of the British Medical Association NI's GP committee, said the most worrying part was those waiting for admission to hospital were "very, very sick patients".

"Part of it is Covid-related and part of it is due to some of the conditions that have waited or not sought attention over the Covid period, but also the waiting lists and the knock-on impact of the waiting lists," he told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.

Londonderry GP Simon O'Hagan said the bank holiday weekend might be adding to existing pressures on accident and emergency departments.

"EDs by definitions are always incredibly busy, even in the middle of the night," he told BBC Radio Foyle.

"With bank holidays you have more people out and about, more kids getting injuries, people going over on their ankles, hurting their arms.

"It just means the place is properly packed out at the moment.

"What I would stress to anybody is please think twice before using A&E as your prime destination. If you feel incredibly unwell then A&E is the place to go."