A male nurse who contacted a female patient on Whatsapp and Facebook was today found guilty of professional misconduct.

The HSE has apologised unreservedly to the family of a part-time farmer who died at Cork University Hospital three days after being admitted for injuries he suffered while cutting down a tree.

It may be the first positive budget since I left Ireland but it’s still not enough to lure me back home.

A group of taxi drivers in Kilkenny are being hailed as heroes after it was revealed their Taxi Watch initiative has saved the lives of 45 people since the end of last year.

In a desperate attempt to cope with emotional distress, some teens resort to self-harming. A calm, compassionate response is needed, an experienced psychotherapist tells Marjorie Brennan.

Kya deLongchamps says an old teddy bear or cuddly toy by German company Steiff can fetch thousands.

A doctor subject to a Medical Council inquiry was “always going to prayer” and “used his religion not to behave properly”, a colleague said.

Nurses at Beaumont Hospital where A&E overcrowding is particularly acute will hold a lunchtime protest today to highlight what they say is an intolerable working environment.

Philomena Whitehouse was suffering from severe chest pains when she was forced to spend the night on a wheelchair in Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital.

Independent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan spent an evening in his local emergency department with his seven-week-old baby because of fears she had contracted cryptosporidium via the water supply.

More than 20 people, mostly schoolchildren, were taken to hospital after the bus they were travelling in overturned down an embankment in England.

A worrying study shows that young adults who drink most are most popular, says Ellie O’Byrne

Welcome to your Monday morning briefing. Let us ensure you’re up to speed on what’s happening and are prepared for the day ahead.

Rochelle Humes was rushed to hospital after a sex mishap.

The man accused of murdering April Jones told police he had a “mental block” about what happened to her body, a jury has heard.

Bolton have confirmed theirscheduled Premier Leaguemeeting with Blackburn on Saturday will go ahead, as it was revealed Fabrice Muamba was “effectively dead” for 78 minutes following his cardiac arrest at Tottenham on Saturday.

To look at them, side by side, you wouldn’t think they were the same species.

ONE-in-five patients have to wait between 12 and 24 hours to be admitted through the A&E at the Mid-West Regional Hospital in Limerick.

A FORMER defence minister said he had witnessed better conditions in military field hospitals than those patients endure & at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

Galway TD Derek Nolan has said that he will be demanding answers from management at Galway's University Hospital after complaints about conditions at the emergency department there.

THE family of a former garda found frozen to death in Wales has called for better support for sufferers of alcoholism in both Ireland and Wales.

TO say that an out of hours emergency skeleton service for Roscommon to treat critically ill patients is comparable to a fully equipped hospital already available in the area is outrageous.

Two Roscommon councillors have demanded Taoiseach Enda Kenny apologise to their constituents as they quit Fine Gael over the downgrading of hospital services.

THE director for operations in the HSE West area said yesterday there was no possibility of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital’s A&E unit being closed at night-time due to a shortage of junior doctors.

A MAN, in the throes of a heart attack, left a hospital emergency& department after “several hours” because he could not get attention.

YOUR recent editorial made me smile as it gave the impression that VHI customers have direct access to hospital beds, which is not the case.

THE number of people on trolleys in emergency departments yesterday stood at 400, with one woman claiming she faced two waits totalling 42 hours for a bed in a Cork hospital before Christmas.

Labour Party TD Joe Costello will demonstrate outside the Mater Hospital in Dublin today in protest at the conditions in the hospital A&E.

THE presence of 46 patients on trolleys at Cork University Hospital’s A&E department was a “record new low” in healthcare, it was claimed yesterday.

SOME years ago we were told by Health Minister Mary Harney there would be a “nominal service charge” of €10 each time one went to A&E.

THE cancellation of operations — 9,000 in the first six months of the year — is a feature of hospital systems according to the Health Service Executive (HSE).

A CONTROVERSIAL proposal to centralise all acute care services in Cork and Kerry into a single hospital has been backed by Government parties.

WHY patients spend hours on trolleys and whether the Pope is a Catholic are rhetorical questions to which few expect answers.

A GP group in the mid-west has expressed outrage over a HSE advert announcing its plans to end 24-hour A&E services at Nenagh General Hospital.

THE Health Service Executive has turned down a call for a 24-hour accident and emergency & unit for a leading tourist town.

IRISH Nurses Organisation (INO) general secretary Liam Doran warned yesterday that transferring A&E services from Ennis and Nenagh general hospitals into the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick will make a bad situation worse.

The HSE spends millions on mental health awareness campaigns but thousands of families are begging for appropriate treatment for their loved ones and can’t access it. One Cork family tell their story to Claire O’Sullivan.

PATIENTS at Tallaght Hospital are waiting up to five years for dermatology services and no new referrals are being taken due to a backlog of cases.

FINE GAEL’S health spokesman is baffled at what he described as a snub by one Cork’s biggest hospitals.

Cancer-stricken Patrick Swayze is already planning his return to work - he's hoping his new TV series 'The Beast' will be commissioned by a US cable channel.

PATIENTS are continuing to suffer and die because of continued overcrowding in hospital emergency departments (EDs) — two years after Health Minister Mary Harney described the situation as a “national emergency”.

A YOUNG man suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF) yesterday pleaded for a better quality of life than the one experienced by his older sister.