Northern Ireland hospitals recorded 433,614 inpatient and day-case admissions during 2025/26, an increase of 2.9 per cent on the previous year, according to newly published Department of Health statistics. The total comprises 205,456 inpatient admissions and 228,158 day cases.
The reported average number of available beds fell by 11.2 per cent, from 4,912.4 to 4,363.3. Average occupancy rose from 84.8 per cent to 93.1 per cent, while the average length of an inpatient stay reduced from 7.5 days to 7.2 days.
The admissions and bed figures cover four health trusts. Most Western Trust activity is excluded because its move to the encompass digital patient record affected the completeness of the 2025/26 data, and comparisons should therefore be read with that limitation in mind.
There were 104,340 theatre cases during the year, a reduction of 0.5 per cent. The statistics also record 19,022 births and 28,178 admissions commissioned from the independent sector, although the department notes that the latter figure has not been accredited or validated.
Outpatient services recorded 1,421,668 attendances, an increase of 3.4 per cent. A total of 104,108 face-to-face appointments and 8,733 virtual appointments were missed, giving an overall non-attendance rate of 7.6 per cent.
The publication is a statistical account of activity rather than a measure of treatment quality or individual hospital performance. The department provides separate tables for admissions, beds, theatres, births and outpatient services, together with notes explaining coverage and changes in data collection.