Northern Ireland's 12-hour emergency waits rise to 11,605 in June

The number of emergency department attendances lasting more than 12 hours rose to 11,605 in June, new Northern Ireland health statistics show.

The figure represented 16.7 per cent of attendances covered by the measure and was up from 11,133 in June 2025. Almost a third of people attending a Type 1 emergency department completed their visit within four hours during the month.

There were 71,018 emergency department attendances in June, an increase of 2,778 on the same month last year. Across April, May and June combined, attendances totalled 210,660, broadly unchanged from the corresponding quarter in 2025.

The median time from arrival to initial triage was 14 minutes. From triage, the median wait to begin treatment was one hour and 38 minutes, while 55.9 per cent of patients began treatment within two hours of being assessed.

The Department of Health has classified the series as official statistics in development while the Encompass patient-record system is stabilised across the health trusts. It said the data remains a meaningful representation of emergency-care activity, but users should take the published methodological notes into account.