Seven people have died of influenza, six in the space of a fortnight, at a time when emergency departments (EDs) are besieged by patients affected by the flu virus and the winter vomiting bug.

Simon Harris is “the latest in a long line of health ministers who are ‘doing their best’,” but it’s not enough, a leading economist has said.

Nine hospitals around the country, including the Mercy University Hospital in Cork, face losing their emergency trauma services.

Mark Evans reports on the hazards in the home that can result in devastating injuries for children

The country’s beleaguered health system has come under fresh criticism after the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine slammed the “anaemic” response to emergency department overcrowding which it claimed will mean more patients dying.

Doctors have warned that any attempt to impose a “one size fits all approach” to the crisis in hospital emergency departments will not work.

Hospital emergency departments will be thrown into chaos next month when nurses strike to end overcrowding.

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive is already trying to put contingency plans in place to find rooms for families living in hotels that are due to close over the Christmas period or have been booked out in advance.

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.

A 35-bed newly built emergency department next to University Hospital Limerick is lying idle as 40 patients were on trolleys in the hospital’s old A&E unit.

There’s nothing like a good ol’ trolley crisis to generate headlines, but only the extremely naive could take the hysteria seriously.

Some patients are being wrongfully sent back to their family doctor, instead of being admitted to hospital.

THERE is a great lusting for a moral economy.

The head of the HSE said there had been significant improvements in the overcrowding situation in hospital emergency departments.

Doctors working in emergency departments have warned of reduced opening hours and longer waiting times for patients amid fears of a 50% shortfall in junior doctor numbers next July.

There won’t be enough senior doctors to run the country’s emergency departments if the Government implements its plan to cut new consultants’ salaries by 30%, according to the Irish Committee for Emergency Medicine Training.

HAVING spent time in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital recently, including 24 hours in A&E, and having experienced first hand the atrocious conditions in which nurses and staff are forced to work, I wish to say that I fully support them in their efforts to have the recruitment embargo rescinded and beds freed up.

Everybody knew that things were going to have to change economically in the current crisis and it was dishonest of any politicians to pretend otherwise. The issue has always been where to make the changes.

THE number of children admitted to hospital because of asthma has fallen.

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.

PLANS to close or limit accident and emergency departments across the country are being considered by the Health Service Executive.

DOCTORS have claimed vital emergency department units & are being over- stretched because of “woefully inadequate” staff and low locum cover.

WHY are people like me, a pensioner who has had both hips replaced in the past two years, prisoners in our own homes?

THE doctor tasked with overseeing the reconfiguration of hospitals in the Health Service Executive (HSE) South has pledged to end the use of trolleys within two years.

THREE men remained in hospital last night after partygoers fell seriously ill after taking liquid ecstasy.

Lost in translation, it could sound like an offer of Xanax, but with new language aids at hospital A&Es, the challenge of treating foreign-language patients is set to be overcome.

MERCY University Hospital has rejected claims by the head of the HSE’s hospital reconfiguration plans that the facility’s doctors are in support of the move.

THE people of Bantry should be given the same commitment to safeguard their hospital’s A&E services that has been given to the people of Tralee.

THE future of six accident and emergency departments in the south of the country will be decided in the next 10 weeks by an expert group.

UP TO 12 acute hospitals around the country could lose their 24-hour A&E service, following a review of activity levels by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny last night pledged to copy the Dutch system of universal health insurance in order to radically reduce waiting lists.

SOCIAL networking sites are being targeted by the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) as part of its latest initiatives to highlight cutbacks in the health service.

LIKE most people, I have been very angry and upset about the HSE’s attempts to centralise A&E services.

THE majority of head injuries being treated at A&E departments in Dublin are the result of weekend violent assaults which have surpassed road traffic accidents.

THE massive Budget hike in the accident and emergency charge for non-medical card holders from €66 to €100 was a soft option that would mean hard choices for ordinary families, according to Fine Gael’s health spokesperson, Dr James Reilly.

THE opening of the €5 million A&E in Cork has been thrown into further doubt after the HSE chief executive said the city has too many emergency treatment centres.

Staff at Munster’s largest acute hospital were struggling to find beds for more than 30 patients lying on trolleys yesterday, according to the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO).

OUR Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda and the Mater in Dublin have been pinpointed as the hospitals with the country’s two worst accident and emergency (A&E) services in the country.

OVERCROWDING in hospital A&Es remains the root cause of job dissatisfaction among emergency nurses despite efforts by the Health Service Executive to improve the situation, a recent study shows.

ATTENDANCES at accident and emergency (A&E) departments have risen twice as fast as the increase in population, new research shows.

A NEW accident and emergency unit is due to open at Cork’s Mercy University Hospital (MUH) in September.

AT LEAST seven accident and emergency units in the State are unfit for their purpose, a Health Service Executive report reveals.

A CITY hospital rejected claims yesterday that staffing problems are delaying the opening of its new multi-million euro accident and emergency unit.