Health and Social Care hospitals recorded over 104,000 theatre cases
Date published:
New accredited official statistics published today by NISRA statisticians in the Department of Health present information on inpatient and day case consultant-led activity in Northern Ireland during 2025/26.
Key findings
Theatre use:
- During 2025/26, there were 104,340 theatre cases across all HSC Trust hospitals in Northern Ireland. This was a decrease of 508 (0.5%) compared with 104,848 theatre cases in 2024/25.
Admissions:
- During 2025/26, there were 433,614 inpatient and day case admissions across the four HSC Trusts included in this part of the report. This was an increase of 12,316 (2.9%) compared with 2024/25.
- Of these admissions, 205,456 (47.4%) were inpatient admissions and 228,158 (52.6%) were day cases.
Available and occupied beds:
- Between 2024/25 and 2025/26, the average number of available beds decreased by 549.1 (11.2%), from 4,912.4 to 4,363.3.
- The hospital bed occupancy rate was 93.1% during 2025/26, compared with 84.8% in 2024/25.
Hospital births:
- The number of hospital births in Northern Ireland decreased by 22 (0.1%), from 19,044 in 2024/25 to 19,022 in 2025/26.
About this publication
This publication provides information on inpatient and day case activity in Northern Ireland, including available beds, occupied beds, average length of stay, theatre activity and hospital births.
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 fully digitised health records. Western HSC Trust data are therefore not included in the analysis, except for hospital births, independent sector activity and theatre use. This allows comparisons to be made across the four remaining HSC Trusts.
Further information
Read the full report: Northern Ireland inpatient activity statistics 2025/26
View data tables and background information: Hospital statistics: inpatient and day case activity 2025/26 | Department of Health