He was speaking after a new report from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine confirmed that there were over 1,000 excess deaths in Northern Ireland in 2025 associated with long waiting times in Emergency Departments – a figure that has more than doubled in the last 5 years.
The East Antrim MLA said: “These shocking statistics underline yet again that the failure to transform Northern Ireland’s health system isn’t some abstract debate for politicians – it is costing people their lives.
“Last year, we had the equivalent of close to 20 deaths each week in our Emergency Departments because of the unacceptable length of time people were waiting for care. That is 20 families left devastated and grieving the loss of their loved ones because the Health Minister has presided over health reform at a snail’s pace while services deteriorate around him.
“ED doctors are right to describe the current situation as a catastrophe. With the size of the Department’s budget each year, it is simply unacceptable that corridor care has been allowed to become the norm, and patients and bereaved families are demanding answers from the Minister on his plan to reverse that trend.
“We need joined-up working between emergency, community and social care so that medically fit patients can be discharged from hospital and capacity freed up for new ones coming in. The solutions are on the table, and the Minister must be held accountable for delivering them before any more lives are needlessly lost due to overcrowding in our Emergency Departments.”
The East Antrim MLA said: “These shocking statistics underline yet again that the failure to transform Northern Ireland’s health system isn’t some abstract debate for politicians – it is costing people their lives.
“Last year, we had the equivalent of close to 20 deaths each week in our Emergency Departments because of the unacceptable length of time people were waiting for care. That is 20 families left devastated and grieving the loss of their loved ones because the Health Minister has presided over health reform at a snail’s pace while services deteriorate around him.
“ED doctors are right to describe the current situation as a catastrophe. With the size of the Department’s budget each year, it is simply unacceptable that corridor care has been allowed to become the norm, and patients and bereaved families are demanding answers from the Minister on his plan to reverse that trend.
“We need joined-up working between emergency, community and social care so that medically fit patients can be discharged from hospital and capacity freed up for new ones coming in. The solutions are on the table, and the Minister must be held accountable for delivering them before any more lives are needlessly lost due to overcrowding in our Emergency Departments.”