THE announcement by Angelina Jolie that she had preventative mastectomies after genetic testing revealed she has a gene which gives her an 87% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, has highlighted the significance of this situation for many Irish women.

A 700% rise in the number of sick children left lingering in paediatric emergency departments has been recorded by senior medics.

A NATIONAL full-time service for children with a potentially crippling condition is to be reduced to two days from next week when the doctor who oversees it goes on maternity leave.

ORIGINAL plans for the manner in which care will be delivered at a new children’s hospital have been significantly changed according to the board of directors of Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin (OLCHC).

Ireland’s largest children’s hospital tonight said it deeply regretted distress caused by inadequate blood tests carried out in the 1990s for the Hepatitis C virus.