Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In 2023, a National Injury Unit Review was undertaken by a HSE Working Group who undertook the review of the existing Injury Units and made a series of recommendations to improve the service from Injury Units. This report was adopted by the HSE EMT and has been shared with the Department of Health. The aim of IUs are to provide unscheduled emergency care for patients with non-life threatening or limb threatening injuries, as conveniently as possible, while ensuring patient safety and equitable standards of care within an Emergency Care Network.

Two recommendations emerging from the 2023 National Review of IUs were 1) to expand geographical coverage and prioritise locations for the provision of Injury Units, and 2) to expand all existing acute hospital governed IUs to operate from 8am to 8pm.

An implementation plan for the expansion programme is under development with the Implementation Group and the expansion of IUs will be underpinned by a safe model of care as recommended by the Emergency Medicine Programme.

The criteria for this prioritisation included population, existing IU locations, and gaps in geographical coverage for the entire population, with more detailed work ongoing to confirm specific locations.

There are a number of possible delivery options and governance models available to support the provision of IUs. Pending the output of the Implementation Group, a detailed assessment and option appraisal will be undertaken at each prioritised location to determine the most suitable delivery model and preferred solution. Cost estimates will be dependent on the delivery model, the size and construction requirements of specific locations, as well as scale dependent operational costs.