An Accredited Official Statistics Publication
Published by: Information & Analysis
Directorate, Department of Health
Statisticians: Elaine Malcolmson & Liz Graham
Reporting Period: 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026
Publication Date: 6 August 2026
Date of Next Publication: 5 August 2027
Coverage: Northern Ireland
Frequency: Annual
Contact: statistics@health-ni.gov.uk
This publication presents information on inpatient and day case consultant-led activity at four of the five Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland during the year ending 31 March 2026. It details information on Available Beds, Occupied Beds, Occupancy Rates, Average Length of Stay, Theatre Activity and Hospital Births. Data are presented by HSC Trust, Hospital, Programme of Care and Specialty as appropriate. Data detailed in this publication are also available in spreadsheet format (Microsoft Excel) to aid secondary analysis, at the link: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/hospital-statistics-inpatient-and-day-case-activity-202526.
On 9 November 2023, the South Eastern Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust launched ‘encompass’ - a new electronic patient record system. The system went live in Belfast Trust on 6 June 2024, in Northern Trust on 7 November 2024, and in Southern and Western Trusts on 8 May 2025.
Inpatient and day case activity data for consultant-led episodes completed on or after 8 May 2025 in Western HSC Trust are still being developed following the Trust’s transition to completely digitised health records. Therefore Western HSC Trust data has not been included in any analysis, except for Hospital Births, Independent Sector and Theatre Use, within this report to allow for comparisons to be made for the four remaining HSC Trusts. Data for consultant-led episodes completed between 1 April 2025 and 7 May 2025 in Western HSC Trust are included in the pre-encompass downloadable data found at the link: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/hospital-statistics-inpatient-and-day-case-activity-202526.
As such all Northern Ireland level figures throughout this report, except for within the Hospital Births, Independent Sector and Theatre Use sections, only include data for Belfast, Northern, South Eastern and Southern HSC Trusts.
All figures sourced from encompass for the 4 HSC Trusts, and those it has been possible to include for Western HSC trust, are considered to be ‘official statistics in development’ which are a subset of Official Statistics in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. While caution must be exercised when using these figures, they are a meaningful representation of what they measure and are of sufficient quality for publication and use.
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section, except for the Independent Sector, Theatre Cases and Hospital Births statistics, as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
| Type | 2025-2026 | Difference From Last Year | Percentage Change From Last Year | Difference From 5 Years Ago | Percentage Change From 5 Years Ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Inpatients | 205,456.0 | 2784 | 1.4% | -3186 | -1.5% |
| Total Day Cases | 228,158.0 | 9532 | 4.4% | 20362 | 9.8% |
| Total Admissions | 433,614.0 | 12316 | 2.9% | 17176 | 4.1% |
| Independent Sector Admissions | 28,178.0 | 4641 | 19.7% | 8139 | 40.6% |
| Average Available Beds | 4,363.3 | -549.1 | -11.2% | -565.5 | -11.5% |
| Average Occupied Beds | 4,060.7 | -102.7 | -2.5% | 166.9 | 4.3% |
| Average Length of Stay (days) | 7.2 | -0.3 | -4.0% | 0.4 | 5.9% |
| Theatre Cases | 104,340.0 | -508 | -0.5% | 21071 | 25.3% |
| Hospital Births | 19,022.0 | -22 | -0.1% | -2773 | -12.7% |
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section, except for the Independent Sector, Hospital Births and Theatre Use statistics, as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section, except for Use of Operating Theatres, as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Please note that on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
During 2025/26 there was a total of 433,614 admissions to hospitals in Northern Ireland.
This was an increase of 12,316 (2.9%) from 421,298 in 2024/25. Over half (52.6%, 228,158) were day case admissions while the remaining 47.4%, (205,456) were inpatient admissions.
There was an increase of 17,176 (4.1%) on the number admitted in 2021/22 (416,438).
Figure 1 (above): line chart illustrating the number of admissions for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
During 2025/26, admissions increased across only Acute Services and Maternity and Child Health programmes of care compared to 2024/25. When compared to 2021/22, only Acute Services programme of care saw an increase in admissions.
Figure 2 (above): bar charts illustrating the number of admissions by programme of care for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
As shown in Figure 3a, Belfast HSC Trust had the highest number of admissions during 2025/26, accounting for 36.3% (157,499) of the total admissions. This was followed by 23.5% (101,713) in South Eastern HSC Trust, 20.3% (87,855) in Southern HSC Trust and 20.0% (86,547) in Northern HSC Trust. For Trust trends over time please see Figure 3b on the second chart tab.
Figure 3a (above): bar chart illustrating the number of admissions in each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
Data users should be aware that not all inpatient services are provided at each of the HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland. In some circumstances patients from one HSC Trust area will be admitted to another HSC Trust. It is therefore not possible to accurately calculate the number of inpatient admissions per head of the population in any HSC Trust area, as HSC Trusts that provide services for the whole of Northern Ireland will have a higher number of admissions per head of the population than those which provide more localised services.
Figure 3b (above): stacked bar chart illustrating the number of inpatient and day case admissions for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026 for Northern Ireland. Chart can also be filtered by HSC Trust.
Data users should be aware that not all inpatient services are provided at each of the HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland. In some circumstances patients from one HSC Trust area will be admitted to another HSC Trust. It is therefore not possible to accurately calculate the number of inpatient admissions per head of the population in any HSC Trust area, as HSC Trusts that provide services for the whole of Northern Ireland will have a higher number of admissions per head of the population than those which provide more localised services.
Data users should be aware that not all inpatient services are provided at each of the HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland. In some circumstances patients from one HSC Trust area will be admitted to another HSC Trust. It is therefore not possible to accurately calculate the number of inpatient admissions per head of the population in any HSC Trust area, as HSC Trusts that provide services for the whole of Northern Ireland will have a higher number of admissions per head of the population than those which provide more localised services.
Between 2024/25 and 2025/26, the average number of available beds decreased by 11.2% (549.1) from 4,912.4 beds to 4,363.3 beds. Between 2021/22 and 2025/26, there was a decrease of 11.5% (565.5), from 4,928.8 to 4,363.3.
During 2025/26 there was an average of 4,060.7 occupied beds, a decrease of 102.7 (2.5%) on the 4,163.4 occupied beds during the previous year, and an increase of 166.9 (4.3%) from 2021/22.
The occupancy rate of beds in hospitals in Northern Ireland was 93.1% during 2025/26; this was an increase from 84.8% in 2024/25.
Figure 4 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of available and occupied beds for Northern Ireland for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026. Chart can also be filtered by HSC Trust.
Of the 4,363.3 average available beds in Northern Ireland in 2025/26, 40.0% (1,743.7) were located in Belfast HSC Trust. Northern HSC Trust had the lowest proportion of available beds with 18.7% (815.1) of the Northern Ireland total.
During 2025/26, South Eastern HSC Trust had the highest occupancy rate of the four trusts at 99.8%, while the lowest rate of occupancy was in the Southern HSC Trust at 89.7%.
Of the 4,363.3 average available beds in Northern Ireland in 2025/26, 40.0% (1,743.7) were located in Belfast HSC Trust. Northern HSC Trust had the lowest proportion of available beds with 18.7% (815.1) of the Northern Ireland total.
During 2025/26, South Eastern HSC Trust had the highest occupancy rate of all five trusts at 99.8%, while the lowest rate of occupancy was in the Southern HSC Trust at 89.7%.
With the move to encompass, it is now possible to count both commissioned beds (funded) and escalation spaces (temporary spaces used only to cope with demand or increased pressures) within wards that are open overnight.
Escalation spaces are counted as those in excess of the number of commissioned beds per quarter. This provides some context as to the capacity and demands within each hospital during the year.
Figure 5 (above): bar chart illustrating the total number of days occupied in commissioned beds and escalation spaces by hospital in 2025-2026. Figures for hospitals in Southern HSC Trust are counted only since the launch of encompass.
Throughput is a measurement of the average number of inpatient admissions treated in each available bed open overnight each year. There has been an overall increase in throughput, from 42.3 admissions per bed in 2021/22 to 47.1 admissions per bed in 2025/26.
Figure 6 (above): line chart illustrating the average admissions per available bed for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, Southern HSC Trust had the highest throughput with 52.4 admissions per bed, while Belfast HSC Trust had the lowest with 42.4 admissions per bed.
Figure 7 (above): bar chart illustrating the average admissions per available bed during 2025-2026 for each HSC Trust.
Average length of stay in hospitals increased from 6.8 days in 2021/22 to 7.2 days in 2025/26.
Please note, on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
Figure 8 (above): line chart illustrating the average length of stay for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, Belfast HSC Trust had the longest average length of stay with 7.8 days, followed by South Eastern HSC Trust with 7.6 days. Southern HSC Trust had the shortest with 6.2 days. The location of regional specialties such as cardiac surgery, thoracic surgery and forensic psychiatry in the Belfast HSC Trust may explain the longer average length of stay.
Figure 9 (above): bar chart illustrating the average length of stay for each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
Data users should note that ‘Use of Operating Theatres’ statistics are not designated as Accredited Official Statistics.
Please note, figures on theatre use for Western Health and Social Care Trust are included in this section.
Information in relation to the use of operating theatres is presented by session type, hospital and HSC Trust. The use of operating theatres relates to the number of cases operated on by National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) classification.
Theatre cases are classified as Immediate, Urgent, Expedited or Elective. In 2025/26, there were 104,340 theatre cases across the five HSC Trust hospitals in Northern Ireland; this was a decrease of 0.5% (508) compared with 104,848 theatre cases in 2024/25.
Across all Programmes of Care, the number of cases operated on was highest in Belfast HSC Trust, with 34.6% (36,110) of all theatre usage. Northern Trust had the lowest use of operating theatres with 11.6% (12,111).
Across all HSC Trusts, Elective cases accounted for 73% of all theatre activity, followed by 16.8% of cases recorded as Urgent, 7.9% as Expedited and 2.3% as Immediate.
Figure 10 (above): line chart illustrating the number of cases operated on by session type for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, the top 5 HSC Trust hospitals with the highest number of cases operated on, accounted for over half (54.1%, 56,429 cases) of all theatre activity in Northern Ireland.
Figure 11 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of cases operated on by hospital in 2025-2026.
During 2025/26, the top 5 specialties on the legacy system accounted for 2.7% (2,777) of all theatre activity. The highest number of cases in Northern Ireland was recorded under General Surgery with 0.9%, followed by Trauma & Orthopaedics 0.6%, Urology 0.5%, Obs & Gyn (Obstetrics) 0.4% and Obs & Gyn (Gynaecology) with 0.3% of all theatre cases.
During 2025/26, the top 5 specialties on encompass accounted for 49.1% (51,228) of all theatre activity. The highest number of cases in Northern Ireland was recorded under General Surgery with 13%, followed by Urology 10.9%, Gynaecology 8.7%, Ophthalmology 8.7% and Orthopaedic Elective with 7.8% of all theatre cases.
Note, specialties in the legacy and encompass systems cannot be directly compared. Specialties in the legacy system were recorded using Korner codes, based on the main specialty of the lead consultant, while specialties in encompass use Hospital Services, based on what the patient is being treated for. These also do not map on a 1-1 basis, i.e. they are two different lists of specialty levels.
Of all 104,340 theatre cases, 91.3% (95,243) were under the Acute Programme of Care.
Figure 12a (above): treemap illustrating the number of operations within each specialty on the legacy system in 2025-2026.
Figure 12b (above): treemap illustrating the number of operations within each specialty on encompass in 2025-2026.
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section, except for the Independent Sector admissions, as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Please note that on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
During 2025/26 there was a total of 387,761 admissions to hospitals in Northern Ireland under the Acute programme of care accounting for approximately 89.4% of all admissions in 2025/26. Admissions increased by 13,439 (3.6%) on the 374,322 admitted in 2024/25. There was an increase of 24,312 (6.7%) on the 363,449 admitted in 2021/22.
Figure 13 (above): line chart illustrating the number of acute admissions for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
Of the 387,761 acute admissions in 2025/26, 9.1% were elective, 32.1% non-elective, 44.6% day cases and 14.2% were regular day/night attenders.
Figure 14 (above): line chart illustrating the number of acute admissions by type for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 59.5% of admissions to hospital under the acute programme of care in Belfast HSC Trust were either elective (14.2%) or day case (45.4%) admissions. This is the highest proportion for any of the four HSC Trusts. Of all the admissions to Northern HSC Trust in 2025/26, 5.5% were elective. This is the smallest proportion of elective admissions in any of the four HSC Trusts presented in this publication.
Figure 15 (above): treemap illustrating the number of acute admissions in each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 0.4% of all admissions to hospital under the acute programme of care were under the General Medicine specialty in the legacy system, with 0.3% of admissions under Nephrology, 0.2% General Surgery, 0.1% Clinical Oncology and 0.1% Haematology (Clinical). Within encompass, 16.8% of all admissions within the acute programme of care were under the General Internal Medicine specialty, 13.5% of admissions under Gastroenterology, 6.7% Renal Medicine, 6% General Surgery and 5.2% Urology.
Note, specialties in the legacy and encompass systems cannot be directly compared. Specialties in the legacy system were recorded using Korner codes, based on the main specialty of the lead consultant, while specialties in encompass use Hospital Services, based on what the patient is being treated for. These also do not map on a 1-1 basis, i.e. they are two different lists of specialty levels.
Caution should be taken if analysing trends in “General Internal Medicine” or “Renal Medicine” specialties in encompass. In 2025/26, renal dialysis admissions were recorded under either “General Internal Medicine” or “Renal Medicine” due to a mapping issue on encompass. This means in some hospitals there is an upward trend under the “General Internal Medicine” specialty and a downward trend under “Renal Medicine”. This has been rectified for future years so that all renal dialysis admissions will be recorded under “Renal Medicine”.
Figure 16a (above): treemap illustrating the number of acute admissions in each specialty in the legacy system in 2025-20256.
Figure 16b (above): treemap illustrating the number of acute admissions in each specialty in encompass in 2025-2026.
The day case rate is given as a percentage of elective admissions (including day cases and elective inpatients).
The day case rate has decreased from 84% in 2021/22 to 83% in 2025/26.
A method of reducing excess bed days and pre-operative length of stay is to increase the use of day case surgery for procedures such as tonsillectomies, cataract extractions and varicose vein removal where it is clinically safe to do so.
Figure 17 (above): line chart illustrating the day case rate for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
Within the acute programme of care, Northern HSC Trust had a day case rate of 90.4% in 2025/26 which was the highest of the four HSC Trusts. Belfast HSC Trust had the lowest day case rate with 76.2% of elective admissions recorded as day cases. However, this may be explained by the provision of specialised regional services by the Belfast HSC Trust and on occasion, the higher numbers of complex cases.
Figure 18 (above): bar chart illustrating the day case rate for each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
Between 2024/25 and 2025/26 there was a decrease of 11.9% (420.4) in the average number of available beds in the acute programme of care from 3,537 to 3,116.6 beds. In the period between 2021/22 and 2025/26, the average available beds decreased by 407.5 from 3,524.1 to 3,116.6.
During 2025/26 there was an average of 2,983.7 occupied beds. This was a decrease of 55.3 bed days (1.8%) on the 3,039 during the previous year, and an increase of 267.5 bed days (9.8%) on the number of occupied beds in 2021/22.
The occupancy rate for acute specialties in hospitals in Northern Ireland was 95.7% during 2025/26; this was an increase from 85.9% in 2024/25.
Figure 19 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of acute available and occupied beds for Northern Ireland for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026. Chart can also be filtered by HSC Trust.
The average length of stay for admissions within the acute programme of care has increased between 2021/22 and 2025/26, from 6.3 days in 2021/22 to 6.8 days in 2025/26.
Please note, on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
Figure 20 (above): line chart illustrating the average length of stay in the acute programme of care for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, admissions under the acute programme of care in Southern HSC Trust had the lowest average length of stay at 6.1 days. This is in contrast to Belfast HSC Trust where the average length of stay was highest at 7.3 days.
Figure 21 (above): line chart illustrating the average length of stay in the acute programme of care in each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
During 2025/26 in the legacy system, the longest average length of stay across all acute specialties in Northern Ireland was under the Haematology (Clinical) specialty where admissions lasted for an average of 24.5 days. The shortest average length of stay was under the Accident & Emergency specialty where admissions lasted for an average of 0.7 days.
During 2025/26 in encompass, the longest average length of stay across all acute specialties in Northern Ireland was under the Rehabilitation Medicine specialty where admissions lasted for an average of 45.1 days. The shortest average length of stay was under the Paediatric Audio Vestibular Medicine specialty where admissions lasted for an average of 0.2 days.
Please note, the specialty of Oral Surgery was reclassified in some hospitals during the 2023/24 year to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
Average length of stay by specialty can only be approximated. Number of inpatients is measured using deaths and discharges, and therefore a patient may have spent multiple nights under another specialty before the one from which they are finally discharged. Occupied bed days will also show under this discharging specialty.
Figure 22 (above): bar chart illustrating the average length of stay in the acute programme of care in each specialty in the legacy system in 2025-2026.
Figure 22 (above): bar chart illustrating the top average length of stays in the acute programme of care in encompass specialties in 2025-2026.
Data users should note that ‘Acute Services Independent Sector Activity’ statistics are not designated as Accredited Official Statistics.
Please note, figures on Independent Sector for Western Health and Social Care Trust are included in this section.
An Independent Sector provider is a private sector healthcare company that is contracted by the HSC Trust in the provision of healthcare or in the support of the provision of healthcare. All Independent Sector admissions occurred within the Acute Programme of Care.
In 2025/26 there were 28,178 admissions to hospitals in Northern Ireland for an inpatient or day case procedure with an Independent Sector provider that was commissioned by the Health Service. This was a increase of 4,641 (19.7%) when compared with 2024/25 and an increase of 8,139 (40.6%) when compared with 2021/22.
Figure 23 (above): line chart illustrating the number of acute admissions in the Independent Sector for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
Of the 28,178 admissions to hospitals in Northern Ireland for an inpatient or day case procedure with an Independent Sector provider, the majority (92%; 25,932) were admitted for day case treatment while the remaining 8% (2,246) were admitted as an inpatient.
South Eastern HSC Trust accounted for the highest percentage of admissions to an Independent Sector provider, 38.7% (10,912). Western HSC Trust had the lowest proportion of Independent Sector provider admissions with 7.9% (2,237) of all Independent Sector admissions.
Figure 24 (above): stacked bar chart illustrating the number of acute inpatient and day case admissions in the Independent Sector for each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Admissions under the maternity and child health programme of care accounted for 8.2% of all admissions in 2025/26.
Only consultant-led admissions are counted on the KH03A statistical monitoring return. Please note, prior to 2022/23, Southern Trust Maternity and Child Health figures included midwife-led admissions and beds.
In the downloadable data file where details are provided per hospital, Causeway Hospital’s Maternity services were moved to Antrim Area Hospital from July 2023.
Please note that on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
In 2025/26 there were 35,630 admissions to hospitals in Northern Ireland under the maternity and child health programme of care, an increase of 1,675 (4.9%) when compared with 2024/25 and a decrease of 344 ( 1%) when compared with 2021/22. The greatest change in maternity and child health admissions was from 2023/24 (36,084) to 2024/25 (33,955).
Figure 25 (above): line chart illustrating the number of maternity and child health admissions for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 29% (10,328) of admissions to hospital under the maternity and child health programme of care were in Belfast HSC Trust, followed by 28.1% (10,029) in Southern HSC Trust.
Figure 26 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of maternity and child health admissions in each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
The average number of available beds decreased by 14.7% from 375.2 in 2024/25 to 319.9 in 2025/26. Average occupied beds increased from 189 to 189.4 over the same period. Average available beds were 6.7% lower (22.8) in 2025/26 than in 2021/22, with average occupied beds rising by 0.9% from 187.8 to 189.4.
Of the 319.9 average available beds in Northern Ireland in 2025/26, 33.1% (105.9) were located in Southern HSC Trust. Northern HSC Trust had the smallest percentage of available beds with 18.1% (58).
The occupancy rate for maternity specialties in hospitals in Northern Ireland was 59.2% during 2025/26; this is an increase from the 50.4% in 2024/25, and from the 54.8% in 2021/22.
Figure 27 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of maternity and child health available and occupied beds for Northern Ireland for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026. Chart can also be filtered by HSC Trust
Data users should note that ‘Hospital Births’ statistics are not designated as Accredited Official Statistics.
Please note, figures on hospital births for Western Health and Social Care Trust are included in this section.
Hospital Births statistics relate only to births that occurred, either while admitted to an HSC Trust Hospital in Northern Ireland; or while en route to an HSC Trust hospital, immediately prior to admission. Therefore, these figures do not reflect the number of home births in Northern Ireland, and are not comparable to Birth Registrations data.
The total number of births in hospital in Northern Ireland decreased by 0.1% (22) from 19,044 births in 2024/25 to 19,022 births in 2025/26. Between 2021/22 and 2025/26 total births decreased by 2,773, from 21,795 in 2021/22.
Figure 28 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of hospital births for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
During 2025/26, the majority of live births (93.9%) were consultant-led births. The remaining 6.1% of live births were midwife-led. Still births accounted for 0.4% (79) of all births.
In 2025/26, just under a quarter (4,497, 23.6%) of all births were in the Southern HSC Trust, followed by Belfast HSC Trust with 22.9% of all births (4,355). Western HSC Trust had the lowest percentage of births with 16.7% (3,175). Births in the Royal Maternity Hospital accounted for 22.9% (4,353) of births in 2025/26, with the Ulster and Antrim Hospitals accounting for 19.2% and 17.6% of births respectively.
Please note, Causeway Hospital’s Maternity services were moved to Antrim Area Hospital from July 2023.
Figure 29 (above): treemap illustrating the number of hospital births in each hospital in 2025-2026.
Of the 19,022 births in Northern Ireland in 2025/26, 44% (8,378) were normal vertex and normal cephalic deliveries. A total of 8,566 (45%) births were carried out by caesarean section (5,000 elective and 3,566 emergency).
Figure 30 (above): bar charts illustrating the type of hospital births for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
South Eastern HSC Trust had the highest caesarean section rate, with 47.8% (1,746) of all births within the Trust being via caesarean, while Belfast HSC Trust had the lowest rate with 42.6% (1,856).
South Eastern HSC Trust had the highest caesarean section rate, with 47.8% (1,746) of all births within the Trust being via caesarean, while Belfast HSC Trust had the lowest rate with 42.6% (1,856).
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Please note that on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
Admissions under the Elderly Care programme of care accounted for 1.8% of all admissions in 2025/26. There were 7,959 admissions to hospital in Northern Ireland under the Elderly Care programme of care, a decrease of 2,720 (25.5%) when compared with 2024/25, and a decrease of 6,023 (43.1%) when compared with 2021/22.
Figure 31 (above): line chart illustrating the number of elderly care admissions for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 28.1% (2,235) of Elderly Care admissions were in Northern HSC Trust while Southern HSC Trust had the fewest, accounting for 21.7% (1,724) of all Elderly Care admissions.
Figure 32 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of elderly care admissions in each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
Within the last five years, the number of day cases in the Elderly Care programme of care has fallen from 188 in 2021/22 to 142 in 2025/26.
Figure 33 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of elderly care day cases by HSC Trust in 2021-2022 to 2025-2026. There were no day cases in Northern HSC Trust during this period.
From 2024/25 to 2025/26, the average number of available beds in the Elderly Care programme of care decreased by 55.2 beds (10.3%) from 534.1 to 478.9 beds. Between 2021/22 and 2025/26, there was a decrease of 91.2 (16%) from 570.1 to 478.9 beds.
During 2025/26, there was an average of 462.8 occupied beds. This was a decrease of 40.5 bed days (8%) on the 503.3 during the previous year, and a decrease of 59.9 (11.5%) on the number of occupied beds in 2021/22.
The occupancy rate for Elderly Care in hospitals in Northern Ireland was 96.6% during 2025/26; this was an increase on the 94.2% in 2024/25.
Figure 34 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of elderly care available and occupied beds for Northern Ireland for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026. Chart can also be filtered by HSC Trust
The average length of stay for Elderly Care admissions has increased by 7.8 days between 2021/22 (13.8 days) and 2025/26 (21.6 days). Between 2024/25 and 2025/26 the average length of stay increased by 4.2 days.
Please note, on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
Figure 35 (above): line chart illustrating the average length of stay in the elderly care programme of care for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Please note, prior to 2024/25, Downe hospital non-acute activity was recorded under Downshire, but with the move to encompass, these are now split into their relevant sites.
Please note that on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
Admissions under the Mental Health programme of care accounted for 0.5% of all admissions in 2025/26. Mental health admissions decreased by 757 (25.3%) between 2021/22 (2,997) and 2025/26 (2,240).
Figure 36 (above): line chart illustrating the number of mental health admissions for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 30.8% (689) of the total of 2,240 admissions under the Mental Health programme of care were in Northern HSC Trust. South Eastern HSC Trust had the lowest percentage of mental health admissions with 19.6% (438) of the total.
Figure 37 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of mental health admissions in each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
Between 2024/25 and 2025/26, the average number of available beds in the mental health programme of care increased by 0.6% (2.5) from 413.6 to 416.1. In the period between 2021/22 and 2025/26, there was a decrease of 7.8 (2%) from 423.9 to 416.1.
During 2025/26, there was an average of 398.8 occupied beds. This was an increase of 0.8 bed days (0.2%) on the 398 during the previous year, and a decrease of 10.7 bed days (2.6%) on the number of occupied beds in 2021/22.
The occupancy rate for mental health specialties in hospitals in Northern Ireland in 2025/26 was 95.8%; this was a decrease from 96.2% in 2024/25.
Please note in the downloadable data files, prior to 2024/25, Mental Health beds in Downshire included those available and occupied in Downe. The same consultants work across both of these hospitals, and therefore, these were not split out until the launch of encompass.
Figure 38 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of mental health available and occupied beds for Northern Ireland for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026. Chart can also be filtered by HSC Trust
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Please note that on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
Admissions under the learning disability programme of care accounted for approximately 0.006% of all admissions. The number of learning disability admissions decreased by 12 from 36 in 2021/22 to 24 in 2025/26 (33.3%).
Figure 39 (above): line chart illustrating the number of learning disability admissions for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
Between 2024/25 and 2025/26, the average number of available beds in the learning disability programme of care decreased by 39.7% (20.9) from 52.6 to 31.7 beds. From 2021/22 to 2025/26, there was a decrease of 36.3 (53.4%) from 68 to 31.7.
During 2025/26, there was an average of 26.1 occupied beds. This was a decrease of 8 bed days (23.5%) on the 34.1 during the previous year, and a decrease of 31.6 bed days (54.8%) on the number of occupied beds in 2021/22.
The occupancy rate for learning disability specialties in hospitals in Northern Ireland in 2025/26 was 82.3%; this was an increase from 64.8% in 2024/25.
Please note, there were no occupied beds recorded within the Learning Disability programme of care for South Eastern and Northern HSC Trusts before their transitions to encompass in 2023/24 and 2024/25 respectively. Previously, occupied beds were recorded under the main specialty of the lead consultant in charge of their care, and these consultants did not have their main specialty within the Learning Disability programme of care. However, on encompass this is measured based on the Treatment Function code (TFC) that the patient is being treated for.
Figure 40 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of learning disability available and occupied beds for Northern Ireland for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026. Chart can also be filtered by HSC Trust
This section presents information on inpatient and day case activity at Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland during the year ending 31 March 2026 for children under the age of 17 years old. This only includes data from within the acute programme of care, and does not include births. Please note, the data below are a subset of the overall data presented above. This section is not Accredited Official Statistics.
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Please note that on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
During 2025/26, there were a total of 29,000 admissions to hospitals in Northern Ireland for children under the age of 17. This was an increase of 686 (2.4%) on the number admitted in 2024/25 (28,314), but a decrease of 3,733 (11.4%) on the number admitted in 2021/22.
Just over three-fifths (61.4%, 17,804) were inpatient admissions while the remaining 38.6% (11,196) were day case admissions.
Figure 41 (above): line chart illustrating the number of inpatient and day case admissions for each financial year for children from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
As shown in figure 42a, Belfast HSC Trust had the highest number of admissions of children during 2025/26, accounting for 45.5% (13,197) of the total admissions. This was followed by 22.6% (6,553) in Northern HSC Trust, 17.8% (5,169) in Southern HSC Trust and 14.1% (4,081) in South Eastern HSC Trust. For Trust trends over time please see figure 42b on the second chart tab.
Figure 42a (above): bar chart illustrating the number of admissions in each HSC Trust for children in 2025-2026.
Figure 42b (above): stacked bar chart illustrating the number of inpatient and day case admissions for each financial year for children from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026 for Northern Ireland or can be filtered by HSC Trust.
Of the 29,000 acute admissions of children in 2025/26, 10.9% were elective, 50.5% non-elective, 37.6% day cases and 1% were regular day/night attenders.
Figure 43 (above): line chart illustrating the number of acute admissions of children by type for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 56.9% of child admissions to hospital under the acute programme of care in South Eastern HSC Trust were either elective (8.5%) or day case (48.4%) admissions. This is the highest proportion for any of the four HSC Trusts in this publication. Of all the admissions to Southern HSC Trust in 2025/26, 5.7% were elective. This is the smallest proportion of elective admissions in any of the four HSC Trusts.
Figure 44 (above): treemap illustrating the number of acute admissions in each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 1.3% of admissions to hospital under the acute programme of care for children were under the Paediatrics specialty in the legacy system, with 0.2% of admissions under Ear Nose Throat, and 0.1% General Surgery.
In encompass, the top specialty for admissions of children in the acute programme of care was Paediatric (42.8%), followed by Dental Medicine with 8.8%, and 6.9% in Paediatric Clinical Haematology.
Figure 45a (above): treemap illustrating the number of acute admissions of children in each specialty within the legacy system in 2025-2026.
Figure 45b (above): treemap illustrating the number of acute admissions of children in each specialty on encompass in 2025-2026.
The day case rate is given as a percentage of elective admissions (including day cases and elective inpatients).
The day case rate for children has decreased from 77.8% in 2021/22 to 77.5% in 2025/26. The greatest change occurred between 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 when the day case rate decreased from 84.5% to 78.4% of all elective admissions.
A method of reducing excess bed days and pre-operative length of stay is to increase the use of day case surgery for procedures such as tonsillectomies, where it is clinically safe to do so.
Figure 46 (above): line chart illustrating the day case rate for children for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
For admissions of under 17s, South Eastern HSC Trust had a day case rate of 85.1% in 2025/26, which was the highest of the four HSC Trusts. Northern HSC Trust had the lowest day case rate with 74.2% of elective admissions recorded as day cases.
Figure 47 (above): line chart illustrating the day case rate for children for each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
This section presents information on inpatient and day case activity at Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland during the year ending 31 March 2026 for adults aged 65 and over. This only includes data from within the acute and elderly care programmes of care. Please note, the data below are a subset of the overall data presented above. This section is not Accredited Official Statistics.
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Please note that on encompass, transfers within an HSC Trust are no longer treated as a new admission. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
During 2025/26, there were a total of 184,501 admissions to hospitals under the acute and elderly programmes of care for older adults aged 65 and over. This was a decrease of 1,105 (0.6%) on the number admitted in 2024/25 (185,606), but an increase of 654 (0.4%) on the number admitted in 2021/22 (183,847).
In 2025/26, almost three-fifths (55.9%, 103,087) were day case admissions while the remaining 44.1% (81,414) were inpatient admissions.
Figure 48 (above): line chart illustrating the number of inpatient and day case admissions for each financial year for adults aged 65 and over from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
As shown in figure 49a, Belfast HSC Trust had the highest number of admissions of older adults during 2025/26, accounting for 34.1% (62,945) of the total admissions. This was followed by 25% (46,057) in South Eastern HSC Trust, 21.2% (39,078) in Northern HSC Trust and 19.7% (36,421) in Southern HSC Trust. For Trust trends over time, please see figure 49b on the second chart tab.
Figure 49a (above): bar chart illustrating the number of admissions in each HSC Trust for older adults in 2025-2026.
Figure 49b (above): stacked bar chart illustrating the number of inpatient and day case admissions for each financial year for adults aged 65 and over from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026 for Northern Ireland or can be filtered by HSC Trust.
In 2025/26, there were 176,542 acute admissions of older adults, of which 7.7% were elective, 34% non-elective, 42.3% day cases and 16% were regular day/night attenders.
Figure 50 (above): line chart illustrating the number of acute admissions of adults aged 65 and over by type for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 59.3% of older adult admissions to hospital under the acute programme of care in Northern HSC Trust were either elective (3.6%) or day case (55.7%) admissions. This is the highest proportion for any HSC Trust within Northern Ireland.
Figure 51 (above): treemap illustrating the number of acute admissions of adults aged 65 and over in each HSC Trust in 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 0.5% of admissions to hospital under the acute programme of care for older adults were under the General Medicine specialty within the legacy system, with 0.4% of admissions under Nephrology, and 0.2% in General Surgery. In encompass, the top three specialties were: General Internal Medicine (21.5%), Gastroenterology (11.3%), and Renal Medicine (9.1%).
Figure 52a (above): treemap illustrating the number of acute admissions of adults aged 65 and over within each specialty in the legacy system in 2025-2026.
Figure 52b (above): treemap illustrating the number of acute admissions of adults aged 65 and over within each specialty on encompass in 2025-2026.
The day case rate is given as a percentage of elective admissions (including day cases and elective inpatients).
The day case rate within the Acute Programme of Care for older adults has remained the same between 2021/22 and 2025/26 at 84.5%.
A method of reducing excess bed days and pre-operative length of stay is to increase the use of day case surgery for procedures such as tonsillectomies, cataract extractions and varicose vein removal, where it is clinically safe to do so.
Figure 53 (above): line chart illustrating the day case rate for adults aged 65 and over for each financial year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
For admissions of adults aged 65 and over, Northern HSC Trust had an Acute Programme of Care day case rate of 93.9% in 2025/26, which was the highest of the four HSC Trusts. Belfast HSC Trust had the lowest day case rate with 75.8% of elective admissions recorded as day cases.
Figure 54 (above): line chart illustrating the day case rate for adults aged 65 and over in 2025-2026.
In 2025/26, 74,224 adults aged 65 and over were admitted at least once to the Acute Programme of Care. Of these individuals, 45,931 (61.9%) were only admitted once, 15,467 (20.8%) were admitted two times, and 12,826 (17.3%) were admitted more than two times within the year. According to the Northern Ireland Census 2021, there were 275,080 people aged 65 and over in 2021 resident in the four HSC Trusts presented in this publication. Therefore, approximately 27% of the older adult population were admitted to hospital at least once in 2025/26.
Figure 55 (above): bar chart illustrating the number of times individuals aged 65 and over were admitted to hospitals in 2025-2026.
Since 2021/22, the number of individuals aged 65 and over who have been admitted on only one occasion to hospitals within the Acute Programme of Care has increased steadily, with 38,251 (60.5%) in 2021/22 and 45,931 (61.9%) in 2025/26. Similarly, 12,830 (20.3%) individuals were admitted twice within the financial year for 2021/22, and 15,467 (20.8%) within 2025/26. For three or more admissions, 12,115 (19.2%) people fell into this category in 2021/22, and 12,826 (17.3%) in 2025/26.
Figure 56 (above): line chart illustrating the number of times individuals aged 65 and over were admitted to hospitals from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026.
All information presented in this bulletin has been provided by HSC Trusts or downloaded by Hospital Activity Information Branch (HAIB) from an electronic patient-level administrative system within an agreed timescale and quality assured by HAIB prior to release.
Queries arising from validation checks are presented to HSC Trusts for clarification and if required, returns may be amended. Once complete, all figures are sent to HSC Trusts for final sign-off.
Trend analyses are used to monitor annual variations and emerging trends.
Trusts which went live on the new encompass system throughout the year will have provided data both from legacy systems and encompass at the time of their move. South Eastern HSC Trust were fully transitioned onto encompass by 2024/25, Belfast and Northern HSC Trusts by 2025/26 while Southern HSC Trust and Western HSC Trust both moved onto encompass on 8 May 2025.
Data Considerations:
Data providers are supplied with technical guidance documents outlining the methodologies that should be used in the collection, reporting and validation of each of these data returns. These documents can be accessed at the following link:
https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/inpatient-and-day-case-activity
It is not possible to accurately identify ambulatory care pathway activity, and as such this activity has been excluded from this publication. Patient transfers within the same Trust were counted as multiple admissions within the legacy system, but now on encompass are recorded as a transfer and therefore only one admission and discharge. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission.
The data for individual hospitals on certain indicators (e.g. ‘Average Available Beds’) will not always sum to the HSC Trust total or the overall NI total due to rounding. In addition, certain indicators (e.g. ‘Throughput’) have been derived from unrounded figures for greater accuracy. They may therefore differ slightly from values obtained through using rounded figures in the formulae. Percentages have been rounded to one decimal place, where possible, and therefore totals may not sum to 100.
The main uses of these data are to monitor inpatient and day case activity, to help assess Trust performance, for corporate monitoring, to inform and monitor related policy, and to respond to parliamentary/assembly questions and ad-hoc queries.
Inpatient and day case activity information is available for elsewhere in the UK, however, users should be aware that this data in other administrations is not always measured in a comparable manner to Northern Ireland. Inpatient and day case activity information published elsewhere in the UK can be found as detailed below:
England:
Scotland:
Wales:
1. Programme of Care
Programmes of Care (POCs) are divisions of health care into which activity and finance data are assigned so as to provide a common management framework. They are used to plan and monitor the health service by allowing performance to be measured, targets set and services managed on a comparative basis. In total there are nine POCs. The POCs detailed in this publication are: Acute Services, Maternity & Child Health, Care of Elderly, Mental Health and Learning Disability.
Activity and occupied beds on the legacy system have been grouped into POCs based on the main specialty of the consultant in charge of the patient at the time of discharge. In a small number of cases, this may lead to differences between the strict POC and the specialty of the consultant in charge. On encompass, activity and occupied beds are now grouped based on the Treatment Function Code (TFC) which is then mapped up to POC. This measures what the patient was being treated for at the time of the count (discharge for activity, and midnight for occupied beds). Available beds are mapped to a POC using the department specialty which is allocated by each HSC Trust based on the bed’s physical location in a ward. Mixed wards could not be catered for in reporting and therefore where a ward has more than one POC, beds were allocated to a single POC meaning small numbers of beds may be assigned to a different POC.
2. Inpatients
Inpatient admissions include both (a) patients admitted electively with the expectation that they will remain in hospital for at least one night, and (b) non-elective admissions (e.g. emergency admissions). A patient who is admitted with the intention of staying overnight but who leaves hospital for any reason without staying overnight is still counted as an inpatient. Day cases and regular attenders are not included. Inpatients are approximated using deaths and discharges and therefore counted within the time period of their discharge and under their final specialty before discharge. On encompass, transfers within the same HSC Trust are no longer counted as multiple admissions as they were within the legacy system, but are recorded as a transfer and therefore only one admission and discharge. However, a transfer from an acute hospital to a mental health hospital is treated as a new admission. For encompass transfers from 9 November 2023 to 31 March 2025, patients were counted under the hospital of their first admission. For encompass transfers from 1 April 2025, patients were counted under the discharging hospital. Please note, encompass transfers to a community programme of care are not included and this whole admission will not be counted due to current report developments.
3. Day Case
A patient admitted electively during the course of a day with the intention of receiving care who does not require the use of a hospital bed overnight and who returns home as scheduled. If this original intention is not fulfilled, and the patient stays overnight, such a patient should be counted as an inpatient. Regular attenders have been included within the day case statistics for all programmes of care but presented separately for the acute programme of care.
4. Admissions
Total admissions has been taken to be the sum of all day cases, inpatients (elective and non-elective) and regular attenders. Deaths and discharges have been used as an approximation for admissions. Admissions are counted within the time period of their discharge and under their final specialty before discharge. Only consultant-led activity is included.
5. Average Available/Occupied Beds
The average number of available and occupied beds during the year in wards that are open overnight, measured at midnight. Beds reserved for day care admission or regular day admission are not included. Previous to encompass, occupied beds were counted under the main specialty of the lead consultant at the time of the count, however, in encompass, they are counted under the Treatment Function Code (TFC) that the patient is being treated for at the time of the count. In encompass, escalation spaces are now included in the total occupied bed count. Only beds used for consultant-led care are included.
6. Percentage Occupancy
A measurement of the percentage of time that beds are occupied. Beds reserved for day cases and regular attenders are not included in the calculation. Note: in exceptional circumstances, the number of average occupied beds may exceed the number of average available beds. This can be due to both patient management and/or recording methods. With encompass, it is now possible to present both commissioned beds and escalation spaces used within each POC.
Occupancy (%) = (Average Daily Occupied Beds) / (Average Daily Available Beds) × 100
7. Commissioned Bed
A commissioned bed is a bed with full recurrent funding for all direct, indirect and overheads costs associated with the provision of the bed. Beds should ideally be funded, however, not all beds may currently be funded as on occasions beds have to be opened at risk. Unfunded beds should be the exception rather than the rule.
Following Trusts’ transitions onto encompass, the number of unfunded beds (otherwise known as escalation spaces), are counted as any over and above the total number of available commissioned beds within that time period. Please note, prior to 1 March 2025, South Eastern HSC Trust escalation spaces were identified and tagged as such, rather than simply being a count in excess of the commissioned beds.
8. Escalation Space
An escalation space is a space in addition to the commissioned allocated bed complement that is used on a short-term temporary basis to cope with demand or increased pressures. An escalation space may also be known as an additional, contingency, flex or extra space. The term space is preferred as opposed to bed as it may not be a physical bed per se.
9. Throughput
A measurement of the average number of inpatient admissions treated in each available bed open overnight each year. Day cases and regular attenders are excluded from the calculation, as well as beds reserved for their use throughout the day. Where small values of average available and average occupied beds have resulted in a throughput value greater than 365, this has been set to ‘-’, as 365 is the maximum possible value of throughput (or 366 on a leap year).
Throughput = (Total Inpatients) / (Average Available Beds)
10. Average Length of Stay
A measurement of the average length of time spent in hospital. Day cases and regular attenders are excluded from the calculation, as well as beds reserved for their use throughout the day. The calculation of average length of stay assumes that patients spend the entire length of their stay in hospital within the same specialty as they were discharged from. On occasions, patients may be transferred between specialties during the same stay in hospital. In these circumstances, such transfers may slightly skew the average length of stay at a specialty level.
Average Length of Stay = (Average Daily Occupied Beds x Days in Year) / (Total Inpatients)
11. Elective Inpatient
A patient for whom the decision to admit could be separated in time from the actual admission. This excludes emergency admissions and maternity or delivery episodes.
12. Non-Elective Inpatient
A patient for whom admission is unpredictable and at short notice because of clinical need.
13. Regular Day/Night Attender
A patient admitted electively at any time of the day or night, as a planned series of regular admissions for an on-going regime of same treatment and who is discharged within a 24-hour period. If the intention is not fulfilled and one of these admissions should involve a stay of at least 24 hours, such an admission should be classified as an ordinary admission. The series of regular admissions ends when the patient no longer requires frequent admission. This method of admission is particularly common for Renal Dialysis and Chemotherapy. Day case figures for Maternity & Child Health, Care of Elderly, Mental Health, and Learning Disability POCs include regular attenders.
14. Day Case Rate
The number of day cases given as a percentage of elective inpatients.
Day Case Rate = (Total Day Cases) / (Total Elective Inpatients + Total Day Cases) × 100
15. Specialty
Specialties are divisions of clinical work which may be defined by body systems (dermatology), age (paediatrics), clinical technology (nuclear medicine), clinical function (rheumatology), group of diseases (oncology) or combinations of these factors. Consultants are assigned a main specialty by the organisation to which they are contracted. Information on the legacy system is recorded against this main specialty of the leading consultant. On encompass, admission, occupied bed, and use of operating theatre data are recorded against the Treatment Function Code (TFC), or what the patient was being treated for, during the final episode before their discharge from hospital. Available beds are recorded against the department specialty of the ward where the bed is located.
16. Use of Operating Theatres
On the legacy system, it was not possible to split cases operated on under the obstetrics specialty in Altnagelvin Hospital into the 4 National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) classifications, therefore all non-elective cases are reported under the urgent category. Information relating to availability and use of operating theatres excludes the following: - Obstetric delivery room containing a delivery bed; - Dental treatment room or surgery containing a dental chair; - X-ray room, whether diagnostic or therapeutic; - Room only used to carry out endoscopy. Nurse-led activity and Cardiology Cath Lab activity are also excluded. From 2024/25, independent sector activity is also excluded from this section. From 2024/25, cases are counted as one visit to the operating theatre, regardless of the number of separate procedures carried out on the patient during this visit.
17. Immediate
Immediate life, limb or organ-saving intervention – resuscitation simultaneous with intervention. Normally within minutes of decision to operate. a) Life-saving b) Other e.g. limb or organ saving
18. Urgent
Intervention for acute onset or clinical deterioration of potentially life-threatening conditions, for those conditions that may threaten the survival of limb or organ, for fixation of many fractures and for relief of pain or other distressing symptoms. Normally within hours of decision to operate.
19. Expedited
Expedited patient requiring early treatment where the condition is not an immediate threat to life, limb or organ survival. Normally within days of decision to operate.
20. Elective
Elective intervention planned or booked in advance of routine admission to hospital. Timing to suit patient, hospital and staff.
21. Acute Services Independent Sector Activity
This is the number of health service patients who were admitted for acute inpatient or day case treatment with an Independent Sector provider. An Independent Sector provider is a private sector healthcare company that is contracted by the HSC Trust in the provision of healthcare or in the support of the provision of healthcare.
22. Live/Still Birth
A birth can be classified as ‘live’ or ‘still’. Figures relate to only those births that occurred within a hospital or while en route to an HSC Trust hospital, immediately prior to admission i.e. home births are not included in these figures. Still-birth means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother after the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy of a child which did not at any time after being completely expelled or extracted breathe or show any other evidence of life.
The data contained in this publication are presented on an annual basis. They represent inpatient and day case consultant-led activity at inpatient services at Health and Social Care (HSC) hospitals in Northern Ireland and Independent Sector providers. This publication refers to all acute, maternity, elderly care, mental health and learning disability hospitals.
Data are presented on the number of available and occupied beds and inpatient admissions in Northern Ireland. Data are presented by the HSC hospital of admission which are then aggregated up to HSC Trust in Northern Ireland.
Acute data are split by admission method into elective inpatient, non-elective inpatient, day case and regular attenders. The sum of the elective inpatients and non-elective inpatients totals the number of inpatients. Similarly, the sum of the day cases and the regular attenders equals the total number of day cases within the acute POC.
Non-acute data are split by admission method into inpatient and day case admissions. Patients who are treated at an accident and emergency department but are not subsequently admitted are not included.
Figures for Western Health and Social Care Trust have not been included in this section as data is still being developed following their transition to encompass.
Data provider
Available and occupied beds for all programmes of care and non-acute activity data are sourced via the legacy departmental return KH03a, and the HSC KH03a - Available & Occupied Bed Days, Discharges & Day Cases report on encompass. Acute activity data are sourced from the Hospital Inpatient System whose data originates from the legacy Patient Administration System (PAS) through the Business Objects Data Warehouse and the HSC IP Activity report on encompass.
Average Available/Occupied Beds – this is the number of available and occupied beds during the year in wards that are open overnight, counted at midnight.
Specialty – this is the number of admissions within each medical speciality. Medical specialty on the legacy system is determined by the consultant in charge of the treatment of the patient. Each consultant employed by an HSC Trust will have an allocated specialty of employment and it will be this specialty against which the patient’s admission will be reported. On encompass, medical specialty is measured using the Treatment Function Code (TFC) which looks at what the patient is being treated for.
Programme of Care (PoC) – this relates to the number of admissions or bed days within each Programme of Care which is a classification that aggregates specialties on the basis of the type of health care they provide, into a higher level classification. This is mapped up from the Department Specialty for available bed days, main specialty of the lead consultant for occupied bed days and admissions on the legacy system, and the Treatment Function Code (TFC) for occupied bed days and admissions on encompass.
These are not Accredited Official Statistics.
Data provider - Theatre Management System through the legacy Business Objects Data Warehouse, and the Use of Operating Theatres by Hospital report on encompass.
Cases Operated On – These data provide insight into the usage of theatre resources by different specialties.
This relates to the number of health service patients who were admitted for an acute inpatient procedure with an Independent Sector provider. Data are presented by specialty and commissioning HSC Trust (the HSC Trust responsible for the patient’s waiting time), in Northern Ireland. These are not Accredited Official Statistics.
Data provider - Departmental Return IS1 Part 2 by the Strategic Performance and Planning Group (SPPG), which is responsible for the regional commissioning of independent sector provision, and the HSC IS2: Inpatients Treated in the Independent Sector report on encompass.
Independent Sector provision is introduced when the demand for certain types of inpatient service is greater than the capacity within HSC hospitals. When this situation results in increases in both the number of patients waiting and the length of time waiting, patients may be admitted for a procedure undertaken by an Independent Sector provider. The cost of treating these patients is met by the transferring HSC Trust.
Data on the number of births in HSC Hospitals in Northern Ireland. Data are split by both live and still births and method of delivery and presented by hospital and type of unit. These are not Accredited Official Statistics.
Data provider - Northern Ireland Maternity System (NIMATS) through the legacy Business Objects Data Warehouse, and the Maternity and Child Health Number of Live and Still Births in Hospital by Trust/Hospital report on encompass.
This relates to the number of births in hospital (home births are not included), and provides information on which HSC Trusts have the highest numbers of births.
Programmes of Care are divisions of healthcare, into which activity and finance data are assigned, so as to provide a common management framework. They are used to plan and monitor the health service, by allowing performance to be measured, targets set and services managed on a comparative basis. In total, there are nine Programmes of Care; however, only five of these are relevant to hospital activity. The relevant hospital specialties within each of the Programmes of Care in the legacy system are shown below.
POC 1 - Acute Services 100 General Surgery, 101 Urology, 110 Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, 120 ENT, 130 Ophthalmology, 140 Oral Surgery, 141 Restorative Dentistry, 142 Paediatric Dentistry, 145 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 150 Neurosurgery, 160 Plastic Surgery, 170 Cardiac Surgery, 171 Paediatric Surgery, 172 Thoracic Surgery, 180 Accident & Emergency, 190 Anaesthetics, 191 Pain Management, 300 General Medicine, 301 Gastroenterology, 302 Endocrinology, 303 Haematology (Clinical), 314 Rehabilitation, 315 Palliative Medicine, 320 Cardiology, 330 Dermatology, 340 Thoracic Medicine, 350 Infectious Diseases, 360 Genito-Urinary Medicine, 361 Nephrology, 370 Medical Oncology, 400 Neurology, 410 Rheumatology, 420 Paediatrics, 421 Paediatric Neurology, 502 Gynaecology, 800 Clinical Oncology, 810 Radiology
POC 2 - Maternity and Child Health 501 Obstetrics, 540 Well Babies (Obstetrics), 550 Well Babies (Paediatrics)
POC 4 - Elderly Care 430 Geriatric Medicine, 715 Old Age Psychiatry
POC 5 - Mental Health 710 Mental Illness, 711 Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 712 Forensic Psychiatry
POC 6 - Learning Disability 700 Learning Disability
POC 1 - Acute Services 100 General Surgery, 101 Urology, 102 Transplant Surgery, 103 Breast Surgery, 104 Colorectal Surgery, 105 Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, 106 Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery, 107 Vascular Surgery, 110 Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, 111 Orthopaedic, 113 Endocrine Surgery, 115 Trauma Surgery, 120 Ear Nose and Throat, 130 Ophthalmology, 140 Oral Surgery, 142 Paediatric Dentistry, 143 Orthodontic, 145 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 150 Neurosurgical, 160 Plastic Surgery, 161 Burns Care, 170 Cardiothoracic Surgery, 171 Paediatric Surgery, 172 Cardiac Surgery, 173 Thoracic Surgery, 180 Emergency Medicine, 190 Anaesthetic, 191 Pain Management, 192 Intensive Care Medicine, 211 Paediatric Urology, 214 Paediatric Trauma and Orthopaedic, 215 Paediatric Ear Nose and Throat, 216 Paediatric Ophthalmology, 217 Paediatric Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 218 Paediatric Neurosurgery, 219 Paediatric Plastic Surgery, 220 Paediatric Burns Care, 223 Paediatric Epilepsy, 240 Paediatric Palliative Medicine, 242 Paediatric Intensive Care, 250 Paediatric Hepatology, 251 Paediatrc Gastroenterology, 252 Paediatric Endocrinology, 253 Paediatric Clinical Haematology, 254 Paediatric Audio Vestibular Medicine, 255 Paediatric Clinical Immunology and Allergy, 256 Paediatric Infectious Diseases, 257 Paediatric Dermatology, 258 Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, 259 Paediatric Nephrology, 260 Paediatric Medical Oncology, 261 Paediatric Inherited Metabolic Medicine, 262 Paediatric Rheumatology, 263 Paediatric Diabetes, 264 Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis, 300 General Internal Medicine, 301 Gastroenterology, 302 Endocrinology, 303 Clinical Haematology, 306 Hepatology, 307 Diabetes, 309 Haemophilia, 311 Clinical Genetics, 314 Rehabilitation Medicine, 315 Palliative Medicine, 316 Clinical Immunology, 317 Allergy, 320 Cardiology, 321 Paediatric Cardiology, 326 Acute Internal Medicine, 328 Stroke Medicine, 330 Dermatology, 340 Respiratory Medicine, 343 Adult Cystic Fibrosis, 350 Infectious Diseases, 360 Genitourinary Medicine, 361 Renal Medicine, 370 Medical Oncology, 400 Neurology, 401 Clinical Neurophysiology, 410 Rheumatology, 420 Paediatric, 421 Paediatric Neurology, 422 Neonatal Critical Care, 450 Dental Medicine, 502 Gynaecology, 503 Gynaecological Oncology, 800 Clinical Oncology
POC 2 - Maternity and Child Health 424 Well Baby, 501 Obstetrics, 560 Midwifery
POC 4 - Elderly Care 430 Elderly Medicine, 715 Old Age Psychiatry, 727 Dementia Assessment
POC 5 - Mental Health 710 Adult Mental Health, 711 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 712 Forensic Psychiatry, 721 Addiction
POC 6 - Learning Disability 700 Intellectual Disability
Hospital Activity Information Branch is responsible for the collection, quality assurance, analysis and publication of timely and accurate information derived from a wide range of statistical information returns supplied by the Health & Social Care (HSC) Trusts and Strategic Performance and Planning Group (SPPG). Statistical information is collected routinely from a variety of electronic patient level administrative systems and pre-defined survey return templates. The Head of Branch is Principal Statistician, Liz Graham. The Branch aims to present information in a meaningful way and provide advice on its uses to customers in the HSC Committee, Professional Advisory Groups, policy branches within the DoH, other Health organisations, academia, private sector organisations, charity/voluntary organisations as well as the general public. The statistical information collected is used to contribute to major exercises such as reporting on the performance of the HSC system, other comparative performance exercises, target setting and monitoring, development of service frameworks as well as policy formulation and evaluation. In addition, the information is used in response to a significantly high volume of Parliamentary / Assembly questions and ad-hoc queries each year. Information is disseminated through a number of key statistical publications, including: Inpatient Activity, Outpatient Activity, Acute Episode-Based Activity and Termination of Pregnancy.
This Statistical bulletin and others published by Hospital Activity Information Branch are available to download from the DoH Internet site at: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/hospital-statistics
Other Department of Health publications are available here: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/doh-statistics-and-research
Accredited Official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in June 2013. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’
It is a producer’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected of Accredited Official Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. Accredited Official Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website: https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk
Find out more about the Code of Practice at: http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/.