Members of the public have shared “horrendous” experiences of long waits at Altnagelvin’s Emergency Department (ED), as it emerged upgrades will not be carried out while there is no agreement on an Executive budget.
The Emergency Department (ED) was built to serve 40,000 patients a year but is currently seeing around 80,000 annually.
In correspondence to a Foyle MLA, Health Minister Robbie Butler recognised “concerns expressed regarding increasing attendances, lengthy waiting times and overcrowding”.
He accepted the need for “modern, fit-for-purpose” emergency care facilities.
But, he spoke of a constrained capital budget and said funding for such projects is “dependent on the capital allocation secured through the Executive budget process”.
Mr Butler said he “deeply regrets” that an Executive budget has not been agreed, saying there was “no timeline” for the project and the Western Trust would be invited to submit a new Outline Business Case “for consideration”.
Among criticisms shared with this newspaper is a view that the waiting area is “always packed”, with sick patients routinely forced to stand or sit on the floor. Locals speak of one toilet between everyone.
A woman said her husband had to attend recently as he developed a serious infection following major abdominal surgery for cancer.
“He was extremely unwell,” she said. “On entering the department I was shocked. There was no space to find a seat and the place was dirty.
“People entered with fish suppers and threw the remains on the floor. There were people shouting everywhere. The place resembled a war zone.
“My husband spent 16 hours on a hard plastic chair. He was extremely exhausted and unwell.
“Eventually he got a chair in the inner part and remained in that chair for two days. It was a horrendous experience.”
John O’Connor said a family member attended the department on a Monday night back in June and finally got a bed that Friday night.
At the same time, he said, a lady in her thirties lay across hard plastic chairs opposite him.
She was in pain, suffering a bout of gastritis, and had great difficulty finding a position of ease, as she vomited into a plastic bag, or “when unavoidable, on the floor”.
(It was) like being a prisoner of war: no bed, sleep deprivation, bright lights, constant noise, one dirty toilet, no privacy, people laying on the floors, extreme heat.
Former visitor to Altnagelvin Hospital’s ED
By Thursday, after spending two nights on the chairs, she had given up, unable to bear the wait any longer.
Jane Grant criticised the lack of ventilation in the emergency department.
“No one would willingly go into A&E considering the sardine can experience, unless they absolutely had to,” she said.
Ms Grant also said the “lack of privacy” can “compound the horror” for pregnant women.
Another person contacted the Belfast Telegraph to say, “you go for help” and end up feeling “like a prisoner of war: no bed, sleep deprivation, bright lights, constant noise, one dirty toilet, no privacy, people laying on the floors, extreme heat.”
Drunken and aggressive attendees, requiring an almost constant police presence in the vicinity, was cited as an issue by multiple people.
Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson said: “As chair of the All Party Group on Cancer I find this to be an appalling state of affairs given recent experiences of cancer patients who have had to attend A&E, enough is enough 10 years on from Bengoa.”
Sinn Féin MLA Pádraig Delargy said: “The fact that I am still awaiting a response to a question I tabled on September 7, 2026 on the immediate steps being taken to deliver a new Emergency Department at Altnagelvin is unacceptable.”
He added: “The need is clear. The pressure on services is undeniable. The people of Derry and the North West deserve action, not more delay.”
Meanwhile, SDLP health spokesperson Colin McGrath MLA said the Department of Health’s decision to “impose a moratorium on capital investment” is a stark illustration of an Executive that has lost its grip.
“When ministers cannot provide the certainty needed to deliver essential investment in our health service, it is patients who pay the price,” he added.
“The need (for investment in the ED) is beyond dispute. This is about more than bricks and mortar. It is about patient safety, dignity and ensuring people can access the care they need when they need it.”
With a £150m spent on an A&E department at the Royal Victoria Hospital back 2015 and more than £700m committed to maternity and children’s hospital’s in Belfast, People Before Profit Councillor Shaun Harkin, said: “This is a reminder that regional disparity continues to be a Stormont policy with dire consequences for workers and patients.”
The UUP said it “fully supports the development of a new ED at Altnagelvin”, adding they “hope the Finance Minister’s capital allocation to the Department of Health will be sufficient to allow projects such as a new Altnagelvin ED to proceed.”
The Western Trust previously said that over the past number of years it has invested approximately £2.5m in improvement and expansion works across the ED.
They have aimed to improve patient flow, upgrade clinical accommodation, enhance infection prevention measures and create a more comfortable environment for patients and families.
Further works are also progressing, including the provision of additional toilets.
The Trust recognises the pressure experienced within its ED and the impact this can have on patients, families and staff.
“The redevelopment of the Emergency Department at Altnagelvin Hospital remains the Trust’s number one capital priority,” said Geraldine McKay, Director of Acute Services.
The Western Trust and department were contacted.