Health Minister praises HSC staff as Encompass data reveals 120,000 daily patient encounters across NI
- Love Ballymena
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Inset: Northern Ireland Health Minister Mike Nesbitt
Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has praised Health and Social Care (HSC) staff after new encompass data revealed the scale of daily patient care delivered across the region, including more than 43,000 appointments and over 70,000 domiciliary care calls in a single day.
Providing an update on the encompass programme nearly ten months after all five geographic Trusts went live, the Minister said the integrated digital care record system is transforming how services are delivered while offering unprecedented insight into operational activity.
Since May 2025, encompass has enabled a single digital care record for every citizen in Northern Ireland, improving clinical coordination and providing high-quality, real-time data to support decision-making.
120,000 daily encounters across Health and Social Care
Operational figures extracted directly from encompass show that on 14 January 2025, HSC services delivered:
43,333 booked outpatient, day case and community appointments
500+ operations and invasive procedures
59 births
Over 5,000 District Nursing visits
Over 70,000 Domiciliary Care calls
In total, this represents nearly 120,000 encounters with the public in a single day through HSC Trusts, domiciliary care services and district nursing teams.
Primary Care (GP surgeries) is not currently using encompass and is not included in these statistics.
The figures are operational data drawn directly from encompass and are not official statistics. They remain subject to validation and may change.
Speaking about the scale of activity, Mr Nesbitt said:
“The scale of activity highlights how hard our staff work right across the Health and Social Care system, demonstrating their commitment to providing a high quality and patient centered service.”
Supporting better funding and resource decisions
The Minister said access to high-quality data is essential amid ongoing financial pressures on the health budget.
He said:
“Given the current funding pressures on the Health budget, being as effective and efficient with the resources we do have is vital to optimise the whole of Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care system.
“Having high quality and up-to-date data helps us to make informed decisions when looking at the future of how we fund and resource HSC services. encompass provides us with the data to do this.”
The digital system is described as clinically and operationally led, reducing duplication across services and freeing up staff time previously spent on administrative tasks. It has also improved patient safety by reducing medication errors and delivering faster results.
Nearly 300,000 sign up to My Care Portal
Almost 300,000 people — around 15% of Northern Ireland’s adult population — have signed up so far. The platform allows users to view medication details, appointments and some test results online, helping reduce missed appointments and giving patients direct access to key information about their care.
The Minister added:
“It has been nearly 10 months since Northern Ireland were put at the forefront of health service delivery, when all five geographic Trusts went live on encompass. Having a single digital care record has transformed HSC, for both patients being able to access their health record in one place, and for staff in how we deliver care, transforming patient experience.”
The Department of Health’s Chief Digital Information Officer, Paul Rice, said the system is reshaping how services operate.
He said:
“encompass has changed how we deliver care by making it safer, more connected and more patient-focused by ensuring that the right information is available at the right time. Access to high quality actionable data is vital to planning services that truly meet people’s needs and will help us to work more effectively and efficiently.”
With tens of thousands of appointments, procedures, care visits and calls delivered daily, the encompass data offers a clearer picture of the sustained workload carried by health and social care staff across Northern Ireland.