Dr. Colm Henry:

I will comment briefly on local injury units. We have a decade of experience now with them. About 80% of people registering for care in emergency departments do so between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

A small number of people register outside of that timeframe with minor injuries. We would hope that they would wait until the following morning, if they are able to do so. The great majority of patients in the target group for LIUs present during the day. One of the potential options for those outside of those times is to wait until the following morning. Patients presenting later at night tend to have more complicated problems in a general way than those problems catered for by LIUs. The opening hours reflect the referral and registration patterns of patients who are appropriate for LIUs.