Elderly patients spend five days in emergency department

The Department of Health said longer-term solutions required sustained investment and reform.

Dr Ian Carl explained that hospital flow was a major issue.

"Our acute sites are inferably at capacity in fact beyond capacity, it currently exists at 140% capacity but most days we run at 120% capacity," Dr Carl said.

He added that patients who are fit to be home, but remain in a hospital environment, hold up beds for those waiting in emergency departments.

"We have patients who need care packages, patients that need to go to a care bed in a nursing or residential home, and also people who need permanent residence. It's a massive problem we face," he said.

Longer-term solutions require sustained investment and reform, according to the Department of Health.

A spokesperson said demand for care was currently more than what the health service could provide.

The statement added that in recent days, the health minister had met emergency department staff, and had held discussions with both the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

"The minister shares their serious concerns about the impact of the immense pressures on staff and patients and will follow up with further engagement in the coming weeks," the spokesperson said.

The vice chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Northern Ireland has said it is "impossible to manage" the number of patients arriving to emergency departments.

A 12-hour wait for a bed was probably "a conservative estimate", he said.

"Every department in this country will tell you there's been patients waiting for three or four days," he added.

"We are at the worst we've ever been, regarding the headlines today, to emergency medical staff, we knew this was going to happen, it hasn't surprised us because this has been the trend for so long.

"There's just no physical space to bring people in to get them assessed."