Doctors and nurses are failing to recognise the deteriorating condition of patients in many cases because of the limited application of a pioneering early-warning system used in Irish hospitals, a HSE audit has found.

9,015 patients were left waiting for a hospital bed in the month of May.

Forget the stage-show cliché, hypnosis can improve health and change lives, writes Clodagh Finn

Hospitals in the south of the country, which are hard-pressed to recruit radiographers, have committed to offering contracts to students who complete a new Masters in Diagnostic Radiography at University College Cork (UCC).

A woman has died following a house fire in County Meath.

A beautician who injured her buttocks and tailbone when she was torpedoed from a go-kart during a fun race has lost a €60,000 personal injuries claim against Kylemore Karting.

Children continue to be admitted to adult mental health units because of a shortage of beds in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

Gardaí are appealing for witnesses following a two-car crash in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow yesterday evening.

Update 6.12pm: One of the men was named locally as William Vaughan, 76, who was known as Charlie and owned the house, and the other man was John Paul Flood, 33.

More than 340 people are on trolleys at hospitals across the country, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

Just one in four ambulances is meeting turnaround targets, leaving thousands of patients waiting to be transferred to hospitals.

George Byrne was holding down two jobs and getting by with just over four hours sleep every night when he suffered a stroke.

The Government has systematically failed to address underlying problems leading to the overcrowding crisis at emergency departments, says the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine (IAEM).

The HSE has launched an urgent review of oxygen systems throughout the ambulance service following yesterday’s fire which killed a patient and injured two paramedics, one severely.

Latest: Naas General Hospital has confirmed that its Emergency Department (ED) reopened at 9pm this evening, with the Department now receiving both walk-in attendances and ambulance admissions.

Gardaí are continuing to investigate a fatal road accident in Co Kildare yesterday.

There are almost 500 patients waiting for admission to hospital today.

More than 3,500 public patients are waiting over three months for a test to detect bowel cancer which private patients can access within 12 days.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Gardaí continued to question a man last night as part of a murder investigation following the death of a 37-year-old father in north Kildare.

A 58-year-old man has died after a serious assault in Kildare on Saturday night gardaí said.

Update at 9.30pm

A motorcyclist died in a road accident Co Wicklow last night.

Two sister hospitals in neighbouring counties have emerged as having the country’s best and worst death rates for heart attack patients in their care.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar has said that up to 200 additional community beds will be opened and staffed by the middle of the month to deal with hospital overcrowding.

Industrial action by members of the INMO in the Mid West Group has been deferred.

Nurses protested against “appalling overcrowding” in the country’s hospitals outside the Dáil yesterday.

Up to 200 nurses and other hospital staff are protesting outside the Dáil over the continuing overcrowding crisis in hospital emergency departments.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation is calling on members of the public to join them in a lunchtime protest, over what they have described as the appalling overcrowding of our hospitals.

A college that the four Kildare crash victims had attended has said it is "devastated at the loss of four beautiful young girls."

After years in the wilderness Naas, Co Kildare, could almost be said to be on a roll - so long as the small businesses can hold on, writes Caroline O'Doherty.

Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to a hit-and-run in Co Kildare which has left a man in his 30s in hospital.

A man has died in a farm accident in Co Kildare.

The mother of a 19-year-old man who died from a clot to his lung over eight hours after he was admitted to the emergency department of Naas General Hospital yesterday settled her action for damages against the HSE for €90,000.

The family of a 19-year-old computer engineering student who died from a blood clot to his lung at Naas General Hospital is to receive €90,000 in a settlement with the HSE.

Two people have died and two other men are in a critical condition in hospital this morning, after road crashes yesterday in counties Kildare and Kerry.

Gardaí investigating a traffic collision involving a car and a motorcycle, close to Athy, Co Kildare can confirm that two people have lost their lives and another was seriously injured following this afternoon’s crash.

A man has died from injuries he sustained in a road accident in Kildare on Tuesday.

A young man gunned down in a gangland-style attack close to his home last weekend was related to a drug dealer killed in a double hit, it has emerged.

Funeral arrangements for the couple who died in a murder-suicide shooting were being made after their remains were released to their devastated families.

A shotgun found at the scene of an apparent murder-suicide was legally held by the man suspected of carrying out the shootings.

A shotgun has been discovered at the scene of two suspicious deaths at a B&B in Carlow today.