Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his engagement, which is greatly appreciated. He is right that there are many projects under way in Limerick. There are also other projects under way across the State. In St. Vincent's University Hospital, for example, instead of having elderly people coming into the hospital, the hospital is sending out teams. I wonder whether something like that could be considered for UHL given the age cohort of the population of the mid-west. It certainly seems to be a success in St. Vincent's University Hospital and it could well help many people in the mid-west.

The Tánaiste spoke about a whole-of-hospital response, and I agree with him, but beyond that, there has to be a whole-of-hospital-group response. Since I came into this Dáil in 2020, I have called for a greater utilisation of Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's hospitals. The reality is that if a young man or woman, and it is mainly young men and women who play sport, has an injury while training at nighttime, he or she will end up in UHL because the local injuries unit stops operating at 8 p.m. I proposed in a motion in this Dáil that these units open 24-7. Moving towards that, even if they were open until 10 o'clock at night, it would bring many benefits and alleviate a lot of pressure on the emergency department in UHL.

See this speech in context