Fifteen people, including 11 children, were injured yesterday evening following a head-on crash between a minibus and a car near Farranfore in Co Kerry.

The chief executive of one of the country’s biggest hospitals — Cork University Hospital — has confirmed it will be "a couple of months" before new equipment is installed to replace its laboratory IT system server which crashed on five occasions this year.

GPs are demanding answers as to why they have been unable to send their patients’ blood samples for testing following a major IT failure at one of the country’s biggest hospitals last month.

A major glitch in the computer system processing pathology test results in hospitals in Cork and Kerry is causing serious delays in diagnostic services, with patients left waiting and staff struggling to do the work manually.

Three hospitals have issued visitor bans on the public after the HSE confirmed the country is in the grip of a major flu outbreak.

Acute hospitals will have €200m less to spend this year — an average 4% reduction per hospital.

Smoking is to be banned on the grounds of three major hospitals in the South in the new year.

A second hospital in Kerry is charging staff for boiling water.

Government plans set to be announced next week could save the State €400m a year in legal cases against the HSE.

HSE director general Tony O’Brien has claimed it will take until the summer to teach all doctors and nurses basic hand hygiene standards after yet another hospital dirt scandal.

The Minister for Health James Reilly has said no acute hospital will close as a result of the reorganisation of hospitals.

Doctors failing to file private insurance paperwork on time costs taxpayers €61m a year.

Thousands of euro have been donated to a vital palliative care service in the name of a popular Kerry fundraiser who lost her life to cancer last month.

Seriously ill children sent to emergency departments are not being treated away from adult patients, including many who are violent and drunk, a HSE report claims.

The HSE will not be able to appoint a consultant rheumatologist to address chronic waiting lists at Kerry General this year unless the hospital manages to “pay off its own bills”.

The number of people forced to wait on trolleys at one of the country’s largest hospitals, Cork University Hospital, is at its highest in a year.

Funding for one of the largest hospitals in Munster is set to be slashed by €22m this year, forcing 30 beds to be closed as part of cost-cutting plans.

SOME of the country’s largest rural and regional hospitals are set to spend up to 10 times more on agency workers to fill staff gaps this year than in 2005.

CORK University Hospital and Kerry General Hospital have been rewarded for good levels of efficiency — by more than €2 million.

A HSE audit has revealed that about 34,000 X-rays around the country were caught up in a backlog and had never been examined by a radiologist.

A report from HIQA has today highlighted a number of issues with the management of breast cancer care - after the transfer of treatment services to Munster's biggest hospital.

HOSPITAL emergency departments are struggling to cope with serious staff shortages, resulting in some shifts being left uncovered and causing havoc to existing quality and safety standards.

THE eldest son of Kerry TD Jackie Healy-Rae is in a stable condition in hospital after a row with another man over land.

AN elderly pensioner suffering from dementia was forced to use a vital hospital bed for six months because no adequate step-down services were available.

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

THE doctor tasked with overseeing the reconfiguration of hospitals in the Health Service Executive (HSE) South has pledged to end the use of trolleys within two years.

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.

ALL out-of-hours emergency surgery in Cork city and county will be carried out at Cork University Hospital (CUH) as part of a plan to reconfigure healthcare services in the south.

UP TO 12 acute hospitals around the country could lose their 24-hour A&E service, following a review of activity levels by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

PLANS by the HSE to transfer Cork and Kerry’s breast cancer services to one site at Cork University Hospital (CUH) could be on ice as management at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) have stated that discussions have yet to take place on any relocation.

A NURSES’ dispute over a shorter working week will escalate unless the first step towards a resolution is delivered today.

HOSPITALS around the country were told to survive within their budgets as Mary Harney warned of a “tough, tight year” ahead for the health services.

North Kerry Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris has said that any commitments that were given to independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae by Bertie Ahern on the future of Kerry General Hospital should now be made public.

THE Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) yesterday called for an independent review of safety conditions for its members at the 274-bed Kerry General Hospital in Tralee.

LIMERICK’S Mid-Western Maternity Hospital was last night named and shamed as the worst place in Ireland for patients’ meals.

ST JOHN’S in Limerick has been voted Ireland’s best hospital for “quality of care” by a health website.

Three men have been taken to Kerry General Hospital following a crash at the Rally of the Lakes in Killarney.

A new survey is putting Bantry General, Cork University Hospital, Kerry General and the Midland Regional Hospital at the top of the list for reported cases of hospital infections - including MRSA.

CONCERNS about heart services in Kerry were raised at the weekend with confirmation of a pending vacancy at Kerry General Hospital.

COME to Kerry General Hospital and see how staff struggle to maintain a safe level of hygiene in overcrowded conditions, Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney was urged yesterday.

ONGOING difficulties in the accident and emergency (A&E) unit at Kerry General Hospital, Tralee, were yesterday further highlighted after the resignation of the hospital’s A&E consultant, Dr Sean O’Rourke.