THE number of accident and emergency patients waiting longer than 12 hours for treatment in September was more than twice the figure for the same month last year.
Latest Department of Health statistics show 154 patients waited more than 12 hours last month, compared to 64 in September 2015.
There were a total of 65,060 attendances at A&E units in September 2016, 3,000 more than the same month last year.
Ministerial targets state that no patient should wait longer than 12 hours to be either treated and discharged or admitted to hospital, and 95 per cent should be seen within four hours.
Less than 72 per cent of of patients attending a 'type 1' emergency department - a 24-hour, consultant-led service - were treated or admitted within four hours of arrival last month, down from 74 per cent in September 2015.
The Royal Victoria Hospital reported the longest median time spent in an emergency department - six hours and four minutes from arrival to admission to hospital - while the figure for the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children was just three and a half hours.
