The National Ambulance Service and Roscommon University Hospital have agreed a programme that will allow for some patients to be transferred directly to Roscommon if they meet strict criteria.
The programme will see a small cohort of stable medical patients transferred to the Model 2 site for treatment.
The Medical Assessment Unit in Roscommon currently treats patients referred by GPs.
Under this new agreement, this referral pathway will now be extended to include National Ambulance Service paramedics.
It is essential that unwell medical patients do not attend the unit without a referral.
The HSE will closely monitor the impact of the pathway.
The referral programme will begin this coming Monday and will operate between the hours of 9am and 3pm.
During this time period, stable medical patients that meet the agreed clinical criteria and live within the catchment area will be referred to Roscommon instead of an Emergency Department when it is safe to do so.
The pathway will result in patients receiving medical treatment in a hospital closer to their home and will release ambulances more quickly to respond to other emergency calls.
