The Bermuda Hospitals Board today recognised the achievements of its emergency department after the team “consistently beat an international benchmark” for length of time in the ED between arrival and discharge.

There were approximately 29,105 admissions to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital emergency department between April 2024 and March 2025.

Chikezie Dean Okereke, Chief of Emergency, said the visits involved about 18,123 patients, 1,888 of whom needed immediate medical attention.

He explained: “Despite the high volume, the emergency department team consistently delivered timely care.

“The median time from arrival to triage (initial nurse assessment) was just 14 minutes, and patients who did not require admission typically spent around three hours and eight minutes from registration to treatment and discharge.”

Dr Okereke added: “Internationally, most public emergency departments aim to keep the median time between registration and discharge to within four hours.”

Scott Pearman, the president and chief executive of the BHB, said: “This year has been extremely challenging for the ED — the high number of medically-fit-for-discharge patients in KEMH has caused long wait times for patients waiting for admission to an inpatient unit and those people waiting in emergency for a bed then fill up the emergency department itself.”

Dr Okereke said people who do not require emergency care, which accounted for almost half of all emergency admissions between April 2024 and March 2025, wait much longer in the department than patients with urgent needs.

People in the ED can now see approximate waiting times and the number and risk levels of patients in the department.

KEMH publishes the number of daily admissions, waiting times and outpatient surgeries online every month.

Dr Okereke concluded: “We hope the community is proud of its emergency department.

“This team is dedicated to your care every day and we are happy we can share our data to highlight the quality of our service.”