Member's statement: Hospitals: Emergency Departments

Member's statement by Mr Daniel McCrossan on 14 January 2025.

MLA

Mr Daniel McCrossan

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

14 January 2025

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Hospitals: Emergency Departments

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4736197

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Over the Christmas period, our emergency departments featured strongly on the news daily. Each of us was inundated over the Christmas period by messages from worried constituents whose loved ones, perhaps vulnerable family members, were sitting in overcrowded emergency departments. Some people waited for prolonged periods on seats, often in pain and without getting the attention that they needed and deserved.

There is no dignity whatsoever in an emergency department. You are exposed entirely in your very vulnerable state while in a very stressful environment. A person who is unwell and sick goes there as a last resort. Believe me, it is becoming more and more of a last resort for people, because many often try to avoid our emergency departments. It really is getting worse. We talk about the state of the emergency departments every year, yet they seem to get worse. The situation seems to worsen, and our staff seem to be under even more strain and pressure. As a result, we will see a significant increase in sickness rates among staff and in people not taking up important posts in emergency departments, so the unfolding crisis will worsen. The emergency department in Altnagelvin, in particular, can only be described as an absolute disgrace, to be honest. People are expected to go there and sit in an overcrowded and busy environment. They include those with mental issues; people who are intoxicated from drugs and alcohol; vulnerable elderly people, some of whom have no family members to support them, who are scared — that is the word that has been used to me — sitting there; and dementia patients, who have to sit in that environment without proper support. There is access to one toilet — one toilet — in the emergency department in Altnagelvin. That is an absolute shambles. It is time that the Western Health and Social Care Trust, the Department of Health, the Minister and the Executive collectively got a handle on the situation, because, to be very blunt, it affects each and every one of our families. People do not go to an emergency department to sit there for no reason; they go there because they are seriously ill. Unfortunately, people are dying in emergency departments, because they are not being triaged, triaged appropriately or seen on time. They are being left on seats for hours. Unfortunately, over the past few months, there has been a huge increase in the number complaints that I have been dealing with about how people have been treated in emergency departments. That is not down to the staff. The problem is that, for every problem, the solution from GPs, mental health services and everybody else is, "Go to the emergency department". It is an absolute shambles, and it is getting worse. We need to get a handle on it. It affects each and every one of us in the House, our family members, our grandparents, our parents and our children. It is time that we dealt with that very serious problem.

502 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification