Saolta asked that only patients requiring urgent emergency care attend the ED, and advised that any patients who attend ED for routine and non-urgent treatment would experience very long waiting times.
They requested that people consider other options for non-emergency care such as the Roscommon Injury Unit, Out of Hours GP and pharmacies before attending an ED. The Roscommon Injury Unit treats injuries that are not life-threatening, such as broken bones, dislocations, sprains, wounds, scalds and minor burns. Details of Injury Unit locations and what they can and cannot treat are on hse.ie/injuryunits The high number of people attending who needed to be admitted for ongoing treatment meant there was pressure on bed availability, which resulted in significant delays being experienced by patients in the Emergency Department who were waiting for a bed to become available on a ward. As of 8am on Monday morning there were 16 patients on trolleys in ED awaiting admission and a further 12 on the wards waiting in-patient beds.
