At least 17 of the 208 women affected by the escalating cervical cancer tests scandal have died amid growing fears over the true scale of what happened.

Why has the country with the worst breastfeeding rate in the developed world just axed its international breastfeeding development programme?

A mother who lost her baby following a mismanaged delivery has spoken of her heartbreak following a 25 year ordeal.

It is unprecedented for consultants to write to hospital management in terms as stark as those expressed by CUMH doctors over gynaecology services, writes Peter Boylan

A consultant neonatologist with 30 years experience has called for a public health campaign designed to reduce the risk of babies being born prematurely.

Politicians ignored problems in maternity hospitals for years, a medical expert has told the Oireachtas health committee.

Overcrowding the main issue behind plan as ministers deny relocations are a political stroke.

THE women of Ireland need to take part in a reproductive action, and by action I mean a stoppage. 

A safety system introduced in maternity wards after Savita Halappanavar's death is not functioning properly in a number of hospitals.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to have their children taken away from them.

One in six expectant mothers are obese, while one in 50 are morbidly obese, according to leading obstetrician.

A report published eight years ago about the future of our maternity services recommended that the midlands hospital at the centre of four controversial baby deaths be brought within the governance of the Coombe — but this was not acted upon at the time.

The families of four babies who died in one hospital in similar circumstances over several years suffered poor and appalling treatment by health chiefs.

The Coombe Maternity Hospital in Dublin has admitted it is paying salary top-ups to two senior staff.

While the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) is at the centre of the top-ups controversy, it is just one of 13 voluntary hospitals and agencies paying bosses extra salaries from “privately funded” sources.

All health bodies giving top-ups to senior officials will be hauled before the head of the HSE between now and Christmas to explain how they will “immediately” end the ‘second salaries’ culture.

The HSE will claw back funds from any hospital or health agency which continues to flout a ban on top-up payments to senior officials.

Gardaí believed there was a risk the girl at the centre of the Dublin Roma case could have been removed from the country if they did not take her into care while her identity was being confirmed.

Irish mothers are more likely to be obese, to smoke, and have induced births, it has emerged.

Hospitals with a Catholic ethos have been told they must abide by the law of the land, as ministers hit back at claims that proposed abortion legislation amountedto a denial of religious freedom.

WHEN Debbie Devane found out she was pregnant with identical twin girls, she was ecstatic.

The Coombe Women’s Hospital is facing a multimillion-euro bill after a High Court judge ruled it is liable for catastrophic injuries suffered by a boy minutes after his birth at the Dublin hospital.

A leading maternity hospital is reviewing the quality of food it gives mothers after admitting some patient meals are “unacceptable”.

Three maternal deaths were recorded by Cork University Maternity Hospital this year.

The chief losers in the bid to build a new children’s hospital are extremely disappointed their site was overlooked in favour of a campus that does not have all the advantages the losing Mater site had to offer.

Hospital food cutbacks are a “false economy” which risk making people sicker, increasing overcrowding and costing the State yet more money in lost work days.

The €650m cost for the long-delayed national children’s hospital could be halved if the facility was built at the Coombe instead of the Mater, it has been claimed.

Three women who had to travel to Britain to obtain abortions have written to maternity hospitals here telling them they have a duty of care to people in similar circumstances.

In relation to a site for the new children’s hospital, Health Minister James Reilly said “everything is on the table”. Here are the current options facing the group tasked with identifying a location.

Crunch talks are set to be held between senior HSE management and national nurse representatives today over the impact hundreds of imminent retirements will have on maternity services.

THE High Court will today consider whether to order an emergency blood transfusion to a baby girl born prematurely a week ago in the Coombe Hospital, Dublin.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney yesterday ruled out a public inquiry into the pregnancy scan misdiagnosis controversy.

Pregnant women were today urged to protect themselves and their unborn child by getting vaccinated against swine flu.

Dublin’s three maternity units should be shut down and relocated next to the capital’s main hospitals, it was claimed today.

ALMOST a third of pregnancies are unplanned, one of the biggest and busiest maternity hospitals in the country has revealed.

THE country’s biggest maternity hospital, the Coombe in Dublin, has recorded its busiest year in its 181-year history.

STAFF shortages combined with an increase in births and poor infrastructure has led to “serious concerns” for the safety of mothers and babies in three of the country’s maternity hospitals.

Women’s lives could be put at risk due to rising birth rates at Dublin’s maternity hospitals, it was claimed today.

TWO hospital consultants found guilty of professional misconduct by the Medical Council for exonerating disgraced obstetrician Dr Michael Neary can challenge its findings, the High Court decided yesterday.

A new study by the Coombe Women's Hospital in Dublin has found that 60% of expectant mothers consume alcohol during pregnancy.

A LEGAL challenge by two doctors found guilty of professional misconduct will be met head-on by the Medical Council.

A RETIRED consultant who performed a sterilisation procedure on a mother of five, who later gave birth to two more children, told the High Court yesterday that, at the time he had completed the operation, he was satisfied that it had achieved its objective.