Hospital Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-01
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Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I thank Deputy McGreehan for the opportunity to discuss this very practical issue, which is of huge importance to the people of Louth and wider north-east region.
As she stated, minor injury units are a really practical response to an identified need to deal with small injuries away from hospital settings. This is a key part of Sláintecare. As the Deputy also stated, these units are particularly busy at weekends when kids are playing sport and so much activity is taking place. That is even more the case during the summer when people are out and about and getting injured as a result of being involved in sporting or other activities.
The development of injury units is a key part of our hospital avoidance strategy. They provide a safe, convenient way for non-life threatening injuries such as broken bones, sprains, burns and all of those things that just happen as part of life to be treated. Crucially, they deliver the same level of care in respect of those conditions as emergency departments, but much closer to home and with much shorter waiting times. We cannot encourage people enough to attend injury units. Nationally, we have seen a great increase in attendances at injury units, reflecting, I hope, the high public confidence and the convenience of local access. Last year, for example, there were 222,000 attendances at injury units. That was a 5% increase over 2024.
As the Deputy knows, the minor injury unit at Louth County Hospital in Dundalk provides treatment for patients aged five years and older in respect of suspected fractures, sprains, minor burns, wounds and other injuries that do not require treatment at an emergency department. It is open from 9 a.m. seven days a week, including on bank holidays, with the last patient seen at 8 p.m. It is one of the busiest units in the country. It is the fifth busiest of the 14 units nationally.
The most important thing for the Deputy is increasing capacity at the unit at weekends. She is completely right, because that is exactly when it is needed. I have discussed this matter with the HSE and been informed that the minor injury unit has access to two digital X-ray machines, which is fine, and that radiology services are available 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday. At weekends, however, those services are only available from midday to 8 p.m. The plan is to extend weekend availability. There is a plan to recruit additional resources to do precisely that. I expect that the resources to extend the radiology services to a fully operational model will be put in place during quarter 3 of this year, which is not that far away.
I am glad to have this opportunity to discuss the matter with Deputy McGreehan and to outline the very real plan for the extension of this excellent injury unit.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-01