Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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164. To ask the Minister for Health her views on the possible provision of public rapid injury clinics (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8996/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for his question and the opportunity to draw attention to Injury Units and the work that they do.

In 2012, the Emergency Medicine Programme (EMP) recommended the establishment of Injury Units (IUs) in Model 2 Hospitals 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. These units have subsequently been termed Injury Units.

Injury Units play a key role in the hospital avoidance pillar of the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2024/25.

In 2023, a National Injury Unit Review was undertaken by a HSE Working Group who undertook the review of the existing IUs and made a series of recommendations to improve the service from IUs. This report was adopted by the HSE and has been shared with the Department of Health.

Two recommendations emerging from the 2023 National Review of IUs were:

* to expand geographical coverage and prioritise locations for the provision of IUs, and

* to expand all existing acute hospital governed IUs to operate from 8am to 8pm.

The objective of the IU expansion programme is to provide more equitable access to IUs to avoid longer waiting times in EDs and potentially reduce attendances of patients in triage categories 4 and 5.

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.

The lack of consistency in operating times of IUs nationally and in the age range for eligible patients, where significant variation exist, were identified as barriers in patients attending IUs at local level. Improvements in these aspects and an increase in the number of IUs have been identified as priorities.