A SENIOR nursing union official has described conditions at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital’s emergency department in Limerick as “dangerous and unsafe”.

THE Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) yesterday expressed “great concern” over planned cuts at the MidWest’s largest hospital.

The Health Information and Quality Authority's published new recommendations on referrals for patients from their GP to outpatient and radiology services.

THE director of operations for Health Executive Service (HSE) West, John Hennessy, yesterday called for the criteria in which acute hospitals are evaluated through the HSE Healthstat system to be changed.

THERE have been calls for the Minister for Health to intervene in at University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) after it was found to be the worst-performing hospital in the country for the second month running.

THE director of the Clare Crusaders Clinic in Ennis yesterday claimed that vital services from the HSE are not there for children requiring speech and language therapy.

SENIOR trade union officials said it came as no surprise that the regional hospital in Limerick was ranked as one of the two worst performing hospitals in the country.

THE numbers of patients waiting more than 29 days for urgent colonoscopies at the mid-west’s largest hospital “is a cause of serious concern”.

THE most recent HSE evaluations at Mallow General Hospital found that the north Cork hospital was reaching most of its targets.

When the state’s 11 health boards were being abolished to form the single Health Service Executive (HSE) at the beginning of 2005, Health Minister Mary Harney explained that government policy should be judged on the provision of better health services for people and better value for taxpayers’ money.

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.

NOT one out of 29 major hospitals has turned in a good performance so far this year, according to a Health Service Executive efficiency rating programme.

The Health Service Executive has for the first time published comprehensive information on how Irish hospitals are treating their patients.