Nenagh Injury Unit continues to treat more patients

Nenagh Injury Unit is one of 11 Injury Units now in place across the country. It is open seven days a week from 8am to 8pm and can treat patients aged 5 and over for a wide variety of injuries, such as broken bones, dislocations, sprains, strains and minor burns.

In 2016, just over 8,000 patients attended Nenagh Injury Unit (NIU) and this year the number of patients treated has continued to increase with the latest available data showing almost 8,700 patients were treated in the unit in 2017.

“We know from feedback received that patients who use our Injury Units generally have a very positive experience”, according to Dr Gerry McCarthy, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, and Clinical Lead of the National Emergency Medicine Programme. “But we really want to make sure that everyone knows just what our Injury Units do and the efficient and high quality care they will receive when they attend.”

Injury Units can treat patients with broken bones, dislocations, sprains, strains, wounds, scalds and minor burns that are unlikely to need overnight admission to hospital. Staff members take x-rays, reduce joint dislocations, apply plaster casts and treat wounds by stitches or other means. They provide swift access to tests and x-rays, and some have rapid access to physiotherapy services. They are staffed by Consultant-led teams of doctors, advanced nurse practitioners, nurses, radiographers and physiotherapists. Patients can go directly to the Unit or be referred by a GP.

Dr McCarthy added: “Many Injury Units are reporting fast turnaround times for seeing and treating patients. In many cases, the average time reported is between one and two hours, and sometimes less, so patients can save themselves long waiting times by attending Injury Units instead of Emergency Departments when it is appropriate to do so.”

Explaining that each Unit is linked to a hub Emergency Department in an acute hospital, Dr McCarthy added: “If a patient in an Injury Unit needs to be admitted to hospital, they will be referred directly to a linked hospital, in exactly the same way as if they had attended the hub Emergency Department. Our Units provide the same level of expertise and service as Emergency Departments for the appropriate group of patients but they are not designed to treat serious head, back or neck injuries, abdominal (stomach) pain, medical illnesses or mental health problems. They do not treat children under the age of five, because of the special requirements of young children attending hospital, with some having a higher age threshold.”
Tricia McKeown is the Advanced Nurse Practitioner at Nenagh Injury Unit. The Newtown native spent 10 years training and working at an Emergency Department in the UK before joining the staff at her local hospital 18 years ago.

Ms McKeown outlined the range of services provided by the Injury Unit in Nenagh. “We treat patients from five years of age and over with specific injuries, from the collar bone to the finger tips and knees to the toes. We deal with lacerations, minor head injuries with no loss of consciousness or vomiting, minor scalds, burns, and dog bites.” She added that removal of foreign bodies, for example fish hooks, can also be facilitated at NIU.

Ms McKeown said it is important to underline the kind of conditions that are not dealt with in Nenagh. These include neck, back and hip injuries, as well as chest pains, shortness of breath and abdominal pains. The Nenagh unit does not accept ambulances; if you dial 999, you will be brought to Limerick.

Such is the standard of service in Nenagh, with generally quick turnaround times, that people are visiting it from far beyond the local area.

“People come from O'Brien's Bridge, Birr, Castleconnell, Castletroy, Hospital... We're starting to get people from Pallasgreen and Pallaskenry too”, Ms McKeown said. “Once people begin to know that we're here, they're starting to travel because you'd be very unlucky not to be in and out in under two hours. It saves you waiting for hours and hours in the Emergency Department in Limerick.”

Of course, if a patient presents with a problem that cannot be treated in Nenagh, the Injury Unit can refer that patient into Limerick. Ms McKeown confirmed that a lot of people ring NIU in advance of presenting to see if their injury can be dealt with there.

“But people don't have to ring up,” she pointed out. “They can self-present. You don't need a GP referral and you don't have to call to say that you're coming.”

The Nenagh Advanced Nurse Practitioner reports that feedback from people who have used the local Unit is very positive. “Patients are satisfied with the service,” she said. “We work very closely with our physiotherapy colleagues. They offer a great service as well. We also have an injury review clinic that our consultant runs once a week.”

Ms McKeown treats her own caseload of patients at NIU, which is also staffed by a doctor, two nurses and an administrative officer. She became Nenagh hospital's first Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner – the first in the whole Midwest region – in 2013. Ms McKeown explained that the role is tailored to the scope of an Injury Unit. In time, there may not be need for a doctor at the Unit, which would instead have a team of nurse practitioners to look after the patients.   

Nenagh is one of 11 Injury Units across the country, three of which are in the Midwest (at Ennis, Nenagh and St John's in Limerick). All have had consistently good feedback and reaction from the patients they treat. There is no charge for patients with full medical cards or those patients with valid medical/GP referral letter.

For more information visit www.hse.ie/injuryunits