Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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2184. To ask the Minister for Health if the delivery of the new Killarney community nursing unit will facilitate the provision of a minor injuries unit at the St. Columbanus Hospital location in Killarney, County Kerry; when the minor injuries unit will be up and running; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19610/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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In 2023, a review of all Injury Units was undertaken by a HSE Working Group. This group made a series of recommendations to improve the functionality of Injury Units for patients. This report was adopted by the HSE EMT and has been shared with my Department. 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,

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.

In relation to the particular query raised regarding an Injury Unit for Killarney, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the deputy directly.