The Health Service Executive has announced that ambulances will no longer take trauma patients to Our Lady's Hospital in Navan from Friday.
However some patients, such as those suffering from heart attacks, will still be taken to the Navan facility.
Up to now the practice was that all patients would be taken to the Co Meath hospital, stabilised and then transferred to another hospital - usually Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.
However, the HSE has said that following a review of the provision of services, it was decided all trauma cases transported by ambulance will drive past Navan and go to Drogheda or other hospitals.
The Clinical Director of the HSE in the North-East, Dr Dominic Ó Brannagain, said a longer ambulance journey to a better staffed and equipped hospital was preferable to making stops.
The move will attract local criticism with opponents pointing out that the emergency department in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is already overcrowded, arguing that this will only make a bad situation worse.
