An Advanced Nurse Practitioner at the Minor Injuries Unit at Roscommon hospital is encouraging people to attend the unit if they have a non-life threatening injury.
Patricia Larkin who worked as a nurse at Tullamore hospital for 20 years is the latest Advanced Practitioner to join the team at the Injury Unit and she says it works very efficiently compared to Emergency Departments.
The Injury Unit treats suspected broken bones, sprains, cuts, burns, scalds and other similar non-life threatening ailments.
Attendance at the Roscommon unit has grown steadily in recent years and patients attend from Mayo, Longford, Westmeath and Offaly, as well as from the local area.
Speaking on the Let's Talk show this afternoon Patricia says people who present to A and E with minor injuries will inevitably face a long wait.
"They come to us maybe after spending a day the previous day in the ED. But i think people don't realise, when you present to an ED, you are not priority because you are a minor injury so people with more life threatening issues will be seen before you, and that's only right. Attending us, everyone is the same, everyone is a minor injury and we're able to work through you more efficiently and more effectively. People are very pleased when the come to us because it's so efficient".
