Family rooms should be the norm, and not a luxury, in all new hospital builds as part of a move to improve end-of-life care, a new report has found.

A education programme for advanced nursing practise led by University College Cork will play a leading role in transforming the country’s health services.

One in three young primary school children in high poverty regions in Dublin are victims of bullying, according to a new study.

A survey of more than 700 students has found that smokers on a university campus are more likely to be aged 22 or above and live in their own accommodation — and that campaigns to raise awareness of quitting are more successful if timed away from exam time.

A new survey of almost 900 teenagers reveals they are reluctant to tell teachers their problems and are also unlikely to speak with a school counsellor — because they are often teachers.

Update 11.15am: Dr Joan McCarthy, a lecturer in Healthcare Ethics in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in University College Cork (UCC), presented a pro-choice perceptive to the assembly this morning.

People with an intellectual disability are in many cases now outliving their carers, typically their parents.

The mental health services are “not fit for purpose” and need to be “ripped up” in favour of a new approach, a consultant psychiatrist with the HSE told a conference at UCC yesterday.

A programme that has been hugely successful in helping people learn about their mental illness and how to cope with it is being rolled out nationally.

New babies inevitably attract ‘wee’ jokes but the subject is no laughing matter when it is mum, rather than baby, who has the trouble holding their water.

The social skills and self esteem of young people suffering emotional, behavioural and developmental problems was dramatically improved when theirmedical treatment was enhanced by music therapy.

Women’s health is being increasingly threatened by the "over-medicalisation" of pregnancy in both poorer parts of the world and high-income countries such as the UK, say experts.

Patients taught how to recognise the symptoms of a heart attack get to hospital much faster for life-saving treatment.

Just over one third of heart attack patients experience what doctors describe as the ‘Hollywood heart attack’ — breaking into a cold sweat, grimacing and falling to the ground, it has emerged.

A two-day conference which will focus on madness as a meaningful human experience is due to get under way at University College Cork tomorrow.

Women are less likely to need an epidural, forceps or ventouse delivery if midwives lead their care, research shows.

The teenage trend of asking people to vet their looks on the web can have damaging consequences, writes Sharon Ní Chonchúir

Almost 40 UCC academics last night welcomed the decision to withdraw an invitation to British far-right leader Nick Griffin to take part in a university debate on free speech.

MOST women should be offered midwife-led care that uses fewer interventions and is just as safe as the consultant-led model, a major study recommends.

MANY psychiatrists are not informing people about the dangers of the long-term use of drugs they are prescribing — or about the medical problems which may develop later in life.

ON behalf of the Irish Institute of Mental Health Nursing I would like to thank the makers of the Behind the Walls documentaries for bringing important issues regarding mental health services in this country to public awareness.

The frightening rise in male suicide in the North is to be examined by two universities there, it was announced today.

THE recent debate following the HSE and the Equality Authority’s decision to investigate allegations of exploitation in sheltered workshops raises issues about the overall approach to intellectual disability service provision.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today firmly refused to comment on payments he received from businessmen while Finance Minister in 1993.