A report by the health watchdog has called for the establishment of an independent national organisation to oversee patient safety — at odds with the Government’s plan for an in-house agency.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted that hospitals have been given increases of 3% in budgets this year and that the coalition is cutting costs and not services.

The Irish Patients Association is calling on the Minister for Health James Reilly contact all nursing home regulatory bodies to see if anything can be learned from a report on the privately run Mulross Nursing Home.

Agony aunt, writer and broadcaster Claire Rayner has died at the age of 79, her family said today.

The Irish Patients' Association has asked voters to consider the Lisbon Treaty from a health perspective.