FOUR out of every five disability assessments for children who may be suffering from serious, life-long conditions are not taking place within the legally outlined timeline.

THE possibility of relocating the proposed new children’s hospital from Dublin city centre to a site off the M50 has been discussed by incoming Taoiseach Enda Kenny with those driving the development.

THE HSE overpaid staff by more than €5 million last year as a direct result of salary system errors and needed to contact those who initially refused to pay it back through solicitors.

THE HSE spent more than €68 million on wheelchairs, crutches and walking frames last year, amid growing calls for existing equipment to be recycled to patients.

THOUSANDS of junior doctors are seeking a 25%-40% pay rise on their basic salary in a case likely to be heard by the Labour court expected before the end of the year.

AN internal hospital report calling for infection control improvements to prevent a repeat of last year’s deadly clostridium difficile outbreak at University Hospital Galway (UHG) has yet to be implemented six months after it was concluded.

A 100-YEAR-OLD woman was ordered to hand over her medical card in a letter from the HSE which she received late last month, it has emerged.

MORE than half of all long-stay residential nursing home beds will have to be replaced by 2015 because they do not meet new care standards for elderly people.

NO extra cancer treatment beds have been allocated to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital even though it has been designated one of the eight centres of excellence to treat cancer patients.

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.

LIMERICK is to get a new multi-disciplinary health centre.

CONJUNCTIVITIS may be caused by sexually transmitted infections (STI), a study has revealed. It urges doctors to be highly suspicious of chlamydia and gonorrhea when treating conjunctivitis in cases where there may be an underlying STI.

THE political pact struck between the two main opposition parties nearly three years ago is effectively dead in the water, according to a Fine Gael frontbench TD.

THE Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) has ditched plans to upgrade a computer system used to ensure the safety of blood products after spending more than €700,000 on the project.

Nurses will announce the next stage in their battle for better pay and working hours today as they turn the heat up on the Government and the Health Service Executive.

Less than half of all respondents to a new opinion poll say they support the industrial action being taken by nurses in pursuit of better pay and conditions.

A VACCINATION against pneumococcal disease, which claims 130 lives in Ireland every year, is expected to be included in the country’s childhood immunisation scheme.

A TOP medical expert has called for a zero-tolerance approach in relation to driving and illicit drugs.

DOCTORS from eastern Europe may have to sit an English language exam before being allowed to practice here.

MULTIPLE sclerosis statistics presented in the Dáil by junior Health Minister Tim O’Malley could be three times below the number of people affected, a neurologist has claimed.

A DUBLIN hospital considered removing fixtures and fittings from wards in order to make more space for beds, according to the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO).

MOVES by Limerick city-based GPs to form a break-away doctors’ co-op to provide out-of-hours cover have been rejected by the Health Service Executive (HSE) Mid West.

LIMERICK CITY GPs may split from other doctors in the mid-west to form their own co-op to provide out-of-hours cover, it emerged yesterday.

MOUNTJOY prison governor John Lonergan has called for the introduction of schemes that would allow the courts to divert mentally ill accused people to hospital instead of prison.

ALARM bells would have rung earlier about the number of hysterectomies performed by disgraced doctor Michael Neary if, as is the case now, he had to seek a second opinion, a campaign group has claimed.

Catherine Shanahan

THE State probe into the organ retention controversy has turned into a “monumental mess” that could politically damage the Government, a campaign group warned yesterday.

COMPLAINTS received by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) about the controversial arthritis drug Vioxx are only the tip of the iceberg, an Irish law firm has maintained.

SERIOUSLY ILL children who need emergency care, and women in labour, should not be sent to many of the country’s general hospitals, a report has warned.

THE State’s five-year inquiry into the organ retention scandal may not be able to complete its work because a senior member of the investigation who quit his post has not been replaced.

GROWING numbers of women in their 50s and 60s are seeking treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and are less savvy than teenagers about sexual health.

Dan Buckley

LEGAL costs in the hepatitis C and HIV Tribunal have amounted to over €63 million to date.

PRISON doctors' salaries will almost double and annual leave and sick pay entitlements increase if they accept a deal designed to end a long-running dispute.

APPLICATIONS to carry out potentially life-saving clinical trials have fallen dramatically since the introduction of a new EU Directive, a cancer research specialist claimed yesterday.

UP TO 200,000 people in this country don’t know they have diabetes — a potentially fatal condition.

NEUROSURGEONS have warned the Government to prepare to send patients with head injuries overseas for treatment, claiming the service faces collapse because of new work schedules.

NATURAL childbirth can help boost newborn babies’ immune system, an Irish study has found.

ONE of the country’s biggest hospitals is aiming to reduce the number of patient medication errors with the introduction of an administration charting system.

GIVING birth naturally is better for the health of both the mother and baby rather than opting for a caesarean section, research indicates.

PATIENTS will suffer and waiting lists will increase once junior doctors’ working hours are reduced, a leading surgeon has warned.

WOMEN who underwent an operation in which their pelvis was broken after childbirth are considering taking the Government to court because it has failed to fulfil promises it made to them over five months ago.