Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I listened with interest to a report on RTÉ's "Morning Ireland" last Wednesday. The report outlined how health administrators and hospitals are asking people to use minor injury units where possible to avoid having to go to busy emergency departments. People attending one such unit in Smithfield in Dublin were glowing in their praise for the speed with which they were being seen and treated for minor injuries and ailments. They compared the experience with their previous experiences of spending hours waiting to be seen at hospital emergency departments.

That unit is one of 11 minor injury units dotted throughout the country that were designed to take the pressure off emergency departments. They deal with broken bones, dislocations, sprains, minor scalds and burns. I know from speaking to staff on a visit to the unit in Roscommon that it takes an average of 55 minutes from the time a person comes in the door until he or she goes back out having been seen and treated. I also know from a visit to the emergency department at University Hospital Galway that patients sitting in the waiting room for hours on end face a screen that pops up with a message advising them to use their local minor injury unit as a speedy alternative to the emergency department. It is good advice, but for the fact that Galway is the only major urban area in the country that actually does not have such a unit.

I have raised this matter before in the House. The first time was during Leaders' Questions two years ago with the then Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny. As recently as March of this year I raised it with the current Taoiseach. At the time, the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, agreed that there was merit in my suggestion for such a unit to be opened at Merlin Park University Hospital in Galway. He added:

It works in Dublin, Limerick and Cork. Why would it not work in Galway, therefore? I will certainly appraise the proposal and discuss it with the Minister for Health and the HSE.

Unfortunately, I am still waiting to see the proposal being acted upon. The idea is what we could call a no-brainer. More than 60,000 people every year are crowding into the cramped and outdated emergency department at University Hospital Galway. Three quarters of them are discharged after being seen and treated without being admitted to hospital. Most of the 45,000-plus people would benefit from the availability of the option to go to a minor injuries unit where they could be seen and treated in a fraction of the time it takes today. As the Taoiseach put it, there are injury units in Dublin Limerick and Cork - there are two more in Cork county - why not Galway?

University Hospital Galway is one of the busiest hospitals in the country with ever-increasing waiting lists and growing numbers spending nights on trolleys in the corridors of the emergency department. All of these people would benefit from a minor injuries unit. If funding were allocated, it could be up and running next year. When will the Government stop paying lip service to the idea and actually follow up with action to provide a minor injuries unit for Galway, based at Merlin Park University Hospital?

See this speech in context