Specialist nurses to treat minor injuries at Craigavon Emergency Department

New Emergency Nurse Practitioners are to treat patients arriving at Craigavon and Daisy Hill Emergency Departments with minor injuries.
Some of the South Tyrone Minor Injuries Unit Team.Some of the South Tyrone Minor Injuries Unit Team.
Some of the South Tyrone Minor Injuries Unit Team.

This team of nurses has extensive experience along with specialist post graduate training and qualifications.

Paul Smith, Lead Nurse for Medicine and Unscheduled Care for the Southern Trust says: “With around 80,000 attendances at Craigavon and 50,000 at Daisy Hill each year, our Emergency Departments are extremely busy.

“We work hard to ensure every patient is treated as quickly and safely as possible but are always looking for ways to improve our services.

“We always remind people that you should only attend the Emergency Department with urgent or life threatening symptoms and encourage anyone who can travel, to go to South Tyrone Hospital to use the Minor Injuries Unit where they will be treated much more quickly for minor conditions.”

He explained that with this specialist team in place those who do attend with Minor Injuries can still be treated quickly, freeing up the Medical team to prioritise those with more serious clinical conditions.”

These nurses assess, diagnose, treat and discharge patients with a range of conditions like sprains, fractures, burns or scalds, wounds, removal of foreign bodies from the eyes or ears and eye injuries.

Paul adds: “Our Minor Injuries Unit and Nurse Practitioner Teams are a great addition to our unscheduled care services, helping to ensure that more patients get the most appropriate care in a more timely way.”

There is an ENP on duty at both hospitals seven days a week from 8.30am to 9pm.