Longford councillor calls on HSE to develop St Joseph's

A Longford councillor has said the regional Minor Injury Unit should be located in the county.
Last week the Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar announced the extended opening hours of their Minor Injury Unit located at Charter Medical Private Hospital Ballinderry.

Earlier this year, Cllr Peggy Nolan asked for support to seek a 'special meeting' with HSE officials to address the concerns of a Longford public whose “lives are not being prioritised” by the health body.
At the March meeting of Longford County council members were told that the HSE had yet to reply.
In the absence of a correspondence from the State body tasked with overseeing the health service, Cllr Nolan said: “There has been no response from the HSE despite the top table's best efforts,” Cllr Nolan said at the meeting.

The Minor Injury Unit is a walk-in service with no referral necessary and full diagnostics are available on site.
Cllr Nolan said locating the Minor Injury Unit in Longford would make more sense: “It's on a private campus [Ballinderry], the HSE are renting the space there. Yet we have so much potential at the St Joseph's campus. It's underutilised. Shame on the HSE for refusing to meet with us to discuss this situation.”
The development of an Injury Unit has benefited the Emergency Department staff in the main hospital by alleviating the workload.

The Minor Injury Unit is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm; and on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm and Bank Holidays from 10am to 6pm.
There is no charge for patients who have a Medical Card or who have a referral letter from their General Practice, Out of Hours Service or from the ED. People can walk-in to this public service for a fee of €75, which is less than the €100.00 fee charged if they were to attend an Emergency Department.

In a statement on the extended hours the HSE said: “Waiting times for patients who attend Injury Units are significantly less than those who may have to wait in busy Emergency Departments while more acutely ill patients are triaged as a priority. The average time to be seen and discharged in an Injury Unit is under two hours.”