One of the country's biggest children's charities has claimed that is being excluded from a Health Committee meeting to discuss the location of the new National Children's Hospital.

The Government has launched yet another initiative to tackle endoscopy waiting lists as figures show that almost half of the 19,850 people awaiting the diagnostic test are not being seen within the target time of 13 weeks for routine cases.

Lisa Flynn was one of a group of parents who travelled to Dublin yesterday to voice their opposition to the location of the new children’s hospital.

Hundreds of patients whose test results indicated they may have prostate cancer are having their files reviewed.

Thousands of patients whose prostate cancer tests have to be reviewed on foot of a fault with the test kit will not be billed for repeat tests and biopsies — but just who will foot the bill remains unclear.

Close to 13,000 prostate cancer tests carried out on patients who attended Mayo General Hospital have to be reviewed after it emerged the test kits were faulty.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has recorded a 103% rise since 2007 in the number of patients on trolleys at a time when 2,279 hospital beds remain closed.

Patients with infectious diseases have been left in crowded emergency units for up to 30 hours, while blood stains and soiled bed pans have been found in maternity wards.

St James’s Hospital is set to win the long-running race to be named the new National Children’s Hospital site.

Sites in Blanchardstown and Belcamp in Dublin are not right for the new National Children's Hospital, according to the Master of the Rotunda hospital, Sam Coulter Smith.

A young mother murdered in Dublin last night has been named locally as Anna Finnegan.

A decision on the location of the proposed national children’s hospital will be made in the next number of weeks, according to Health Minister Dr James Reilly.

Bord Bia yesterday launched the Ireland-China Food Hub and the Ireland-China Food Network, capping an excellent week for relations between the two countries.

Galway University Hospital and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda are the two worst performing hospitals in the country, according to a HSE survey.

Some 261 patients were on trolleys in the country's hospitals today.

GARDAÍ have opened an investigation after a 16-year-old girl lost her life when she was struck by a car yesterday afternoon.

CONCERNS about the mounting debt of Greece has got the anti-euro tongues wagging at a frenetic pace.

ALMOST €14 million will be slashed off the budgets of 18 hospitals in 2010 as a result of inefficiencies last year.

PATIENTS are waiting up to 600 days to see a consultant at outpatient clinics in some hospitals around the country, according to the Health Service Executive performance information system HealthStat.

A man has died following a shooting in the Finglas area of Dublin last night.

PATIENTS waiting for outpatient appointments with consultants are facing queues up to 18 months long as hospitals deal with an unplanned surge in numbers.

AN unemployed Dublin man appeared in court yesterday on a charge of murdering his brother following a row at a house in Blanchardstown last year.

MEDICAL sources last night indicated that the Mater Hospital would be the site of the new national children’s hospital.

THE chair of a group tasked with selecting a site for a new national children’s hospital has resigned because of a conflict of interest.

REMEMBER ‘A Few Good Men,’ starring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise?

TÁNAISTE and Health Minister Mary Harney rounded on consultants yesterday for attacking the Government’s performance in cutting hospital waiting lists.

A MAN in his 30s was left fighting for his life yesterday after he was stabbed several times following a row at a house in Tallaght, south Dublin.