A Department of Health scheme introduced last month to limit ambulance handover waits to two hours has increased corridor and chair occupancy in Northern Ireland emergency departments.

Dr Michael Perry of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine told the Stormont Health Committee that more than half of clinical leads reported greater overcrowding after the scheme began.

The initiative improved ambulance offloading times but shifted patients into internal waiting areas rather than resolving bed availability for onward admission.

Dr Sara McGurk said the focus on ambulance targets had reduced capacity to manage patients arriving through the front door.

She stated that overcrowding levels had not improved and that the emphasis on one target created imbalance in department operations.

Pauline Shepherd of Independent Health and Care Providers said delays in arranging social care packages for medically fit patients continued to block hospital beds and sustain system pressure.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine previously recorded the highest number of patients waiting over 12 hours in Northern Ireland emergency departments last year.