A POTENTIAL cure for a rare, life-threatening form of leukaemia could be one step closer after Irish researchers unveiled a breakthrough in treating the condition.

A health watchdog in the North today demanded improvements in hospital hygiene after inspections raised concerns over standards in five hospitals.

A 92-year-old man suffered a heart attack and died after a doctor gave him a drugs overdose, an inquest heard today.

Armed and uniformed police officers are to be deployed for the first time ever at an accident and emergency unit in the North.

Cancer patients in Co Donegal are to have access to radiotherapy services in the North from next month, it was confirmed today.

More than 120 amateur golfers, including Eddie Jordan, Barry McGuigan, Keith Wood, Ronan Keating, DJ Carey and Mick Fitzgerald, will play in the children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent Golf Open at Slieve Russell Hotel Golf and Country Club, in Co Cavan on Monday October 2.

The number of patients over the drink-drive limit in Belfast City Hospital rose by 113% in five years, says a study out today.

FOR years, activists campaigning for improved cancer services have argued the obvious: patient outcomes are reflected in access to quality treatment.

CAMPAIGNERS for improved services at Monaghan General Hospital have expressed hope that an official report into the death of an elderly farmer at the hospital last year will result in major changes to health services in the north-east.

THE Labour party has called on the Tánaiste to explain why a report into the preventable death of a patient faces a three-month delay.

THOUSANDS of women are to have to have breast screening tests re-examined amid concerns over the clinical judgment of a senior doctor.

A consultant radiologist dealing with breast cancer screening has been suspended amid concerns over his clinical judgment, it was announced today.

A SURGEON at Monaghan Hospital was reprimanded earlier this year because he carried out emergency surgery on a patient in breach of protocol, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny told the Dáil yesterday.

Production-line medicine is to blame for rising rates of the deadly MRSA superbug infection in the North’s acute hospitals, according to research published today.

THE Irish Cancer Society has called on the Government to consider introducing a scheme to provide accommodation and travel expenses for cancer patients forced to travel long distances to receive radiotherapy treatment.

Tánaiste Mary Harney today defended her decision not to build a cancer treatment centre for people in the north-west.

AMBULANCES costing €1,200 per run are used to transport cancer patients in the north-west to Dublin for radiotherapy in the absence of nearby facilities.

Norman Jenkinson, news editor of the Belfast Telegraph during the worst years of the violence in the North, has died. He was 69.

Ten years ago Lisa Stewart cradled her newborn baby in her arms and prayed on the first day of the IRA ceasefire that her son would have a very different world to grow up in.

Sinn Féin will press for an unarmed police service in Northern Ireland and also forge an alliance for Irish unity, the party vowed today.

A man shot during a bar brawl in west Belfast was an innocent passer-by hit by a bullet intended for someone else, police said today.

It may be four weeks before George Best recovers fully from pneumonia.

George Best is in a Belfast hospital recovering from pneumonia.

The former star footballer George Best has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia.

George Best is back in hospital and believed to be suffering from pneumonia.

Two children, aged two and three, died when a fire engulfed a house in south Belfast.