Extreme care will need to be taken to ensure suitable patients are transported to Roscommon Hospital as part of a new ED overcrowding measure.
That's the view of Hospital manager Mary Garvey as ambulances are due to begin transferring non-urgent patients to the Roscommon's Medical Assessment Unit from Monday.
The HSE has confirmed the decision yesterday in an effort to help ease overcrowding in Emergency Departments across the region.
A similar trial has been successful since its introduction at Ennis Hospital in the Mid-West recently, with the Roscommon version operating between the hours of 9am and 3pm daily from next week.
Speaking to the Joe Finnegan Show today, Mary Garvey says that safety is the primary concern when it comes the patients:
"Our biggest thing is that we want to make sure that we don't have anyone arriving to the hospital who is not stable enough to come here and that we end up with a situation where time has been wasted, a patient deteriorates, and we have actually delayed the patient. We do not want to do anything that is unsafe. Our mantra here is safety, safety, safety. Our location is remote in terms of backup. If a patient is brought here who is unstable and has to be transferred, the ambulance has to be recalled. That takes time and it's a waste of resources as well".
