A local TD has defended plans by the HSE to transfer patients from busy Emergency Departments to regional hospitals.
The plan was put into effect last week where certain patients who meet a criteria are transferred from University Hospital Limerick to Ennis General Hospital.
Roscommon Galway TD Denis Naughten has argued that the same protocol should be implemented between Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinalsoe and Roscommon Hospital.
The call came under fire with issues highlighted around the lack of necessary services at Roscommon Hospital.
However, Deputy Naughten believes that patients that fall under the criteria could be safety cared for at Roscommon's Urgent Care Unit.
Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show today, the independent TD says every option must be used to tackle the crisis:
Lets say we are talking about 5 patients a day that would come to Roscommon through that.
In terms of the overall impact, look at the reality of it.
If we had five fewer patients on trolleys at Portiuncula Hospital as a result of that protocol, that would reduce the number of patients in that hospital yesterday morning by a whopping 25 percent.
