AQW 39695/22-27

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 03/02/2026
Answered On Date: 25/02/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail any actions ongoing to implement improved hospital throughput.

Answer:

My Department continues to work closely with Health and Social Care Trusts to improve hospital throughput through a comprehensive programme of actions, recognising the significant pressures across emergency departments, ambulance handovers and wider patient flow.

Improving throughput requires a whole‑system approach. Each Trust has an unscheduled care improvement plan that brings together acute care, community services and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. This is supported by daily operational oversight from the Regional Co-ordination Centre, which monitors pressures such as ambulance handover delays, repatriation between Trusts and discharge blockages.

To further stabilise unscheduled care, £10 million has been repurposed regionally. This is supporting short‑stay and intermediate care beds, alongside the expansion of Same Day Emergency Care and ambulatory pathways, enabling earlier assessment and treatment and helping to avoid unnecessary admissions. Frailty at the Front Door services are now operational across acute sites facilitating early clinical decision‑making, supporting admission avoidance and reducing pressure on inpatient beds.

Trusts have strengthened discharge processes by ensuring timely senior decision‑making, and expanding discharge coordinators and allied health professional capacity to accelerate safe discharge and maintain patient flow through wards.

Improving social care flow is a key component of hospital throughput. Early Review Teams have now reviewed more than 4,100 individuals, with almost half requiring reduced or no home‑care support, releasing over 12,000 weekly hours of capacity regionally. In 2025-26 alone, revised Early Review criteria have released an additional 4,961 hours per week.

Regional protection of care packages during hospital admission was implemented in Quarter 3, ensuring packages are immediately available once patients are medically fit for discharge. Digital solutions are also improving capacity management: all five Trusts have now implemented Careline Live, which has delivered significant efficiency gains. For example, over 2,100 hours were saved in the South Eastern Trust between April and September 2025. A regional digital care‑home bed availability platform is under development and is scheduled for delivery in 2026–27.

The Trusted Assessor model is in place across all Trusts to reduce delays associated with care‑home assessments. Work is progressing to develop a fully consistent regional model and will be completed in Quarter 1 of 2026–27, with the longer‑term aim of moving to a seven‑day service subject to resources. Engagement with care‑home providers is ongoing, including a focus on the growing need for dementia capacity.