Two Government ministers have backed plans for an imminent review of the religious patronage of more than a dozen hospitals across the country, after Health Minister Simon Harris publicly confirmed he is planning the move.

A 25-hour wait by a 101-year-old Co Clare grandmother on a trolley at the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has been described as "inhumane, deplorable, and disgraceful".

The university where Karen Buckley began her nursing studies is today honouring the memory of a popular graduate whose “main aim in life was to help people”.

As University Hospital Limerick went on red alert yesterday with another spike in emergency eepartment (ED) trolley patients, all non-urgent elective surgery was cancelled.

University Hospital Limerick has said it is transferring patients to hospitals in Clare and Tipperary because of a spike in patients attending the Emergency Department.

A 35-bed newly built emergency department next to University Hospital Limerick is lying idle as 40 patients were on trolleys in the hospital’s old A&E unit.

A fashion lecturer who claimed she lost her cherished career after she tripped on a broken concrete surface injuring her elbow has settled her High Court action for damages.

A leading figure in Irish fashion design who has lost her cherished career after she tripped on a broken concrete surface injuring her elbow yesterday launched a High Court action for damages.

Increased spending on agency staff and the provision of 41 extra acute beds in Limerick hospitals have been cited as some of the main factors contributing to a €18.5m overspend in a Mid-West group of hospitals.

A well-known GAA figure has spoken about the mystery illness which has forced him to stand aside from his position as chairman of the Limerick club Na Piarsaigh and pull out as a candidate from the upcoming local elections.

The HSE has warned it will cut its funding to five charities by 20% if they don’t try and comply with public health sector pay policy by Feb 21.

A leading clinical director believes a second emergency department would be beneficial for the Mid-West region in the wake of claims that University Hospital Limerick is in “chaos”.

The HSE will claw back funds from any hospital or health agency which continues to flout a ban on top-up payments to senior officials.

Junior doctors came off gruelling shifts to walk the picket lines outside hospitals across Ireland yesterday.

Victor Browne finally got his hospital appointment.

The HSE has admitted staff morale is low and that there is no accountability structure for clinicians within its acute hospital network in the Mid-West.

A senior consultant has described plans by the HSE to establish a trust to oversee the operation of six hospitals in the Mid-West as “rampant managerialism” and “guaranteed to fail”.

A complete ban on smoking in hospitals and on adjoining grounds in the Mid-West comes into force this Thursday.

The HSE could make huge savings if it streamlined payments made to priests providing chaplaincy services across its acute hospital network in the West.

A CORONER’S inquest is to take place into the sudden death of a 35-year-old man who had been on a trolley for over two days at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.

AN internal report outlining how the hospital system will be reconfigured — including the exact services to be moved from 10 small hospitals — is set to be given to Health Minister Dr James Reilly.

A LIMERICK shop worker was seriously injured when an angry customer lashed out at her with a heavy chain over a refund claim.

A SENIOR nursing union official has described conditions at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital’s emergency department in Limerick as “dangerous and unsafe”.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is likely to come under further pressure today after the Health Information and Quality Authority released a timeline of its reports on regional hospitals.

HEALTH chiefs have identified a further ten hospitals with “significant risk” issues for patients.

THOUSANDS of demonstrators demanding a halt to the closure of key services at Roscommon Hospital descended on Leinster House yesterday.

EMERGENCY services in Limerick are set to worsen in coming weeks due to a proposed downgrading of the emergency department (ED) at St John’s Hospital, a nurses leader warned yesterday.

THE new graduate entry medical school on the Clare campus of the University of Limerick will produce “medical leaders” for acute hospitals in the region.

OVERCROWDING, lack of hygiene, risk of infection and “appalling” standards of care.

SECURITY staff at three hospitals in Limerick City have unanimously balloted in favour of industrial action following claims their employer has cut the hours of union members because of their refusal to forfeit monies owed over the past three years.

PLANS to transfer all acute surgery from Ennis and Nenagh hospitals to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick have been delayed.

AN OUTPATIENT blood clinic at St John’s Hospital in Limerick is to be closed from June 2 due to further health cutbacks.

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).

LABOUR health spokes-person Jan O’Sullivan yesterday called on the Health Minister to spell out the future role envisaged for St John’s Hospital in Limerick.

LINCOR Solutions, a privately-owned Cork-based hospital technology manufacturer, is strongly considering a stock market flotation within the next year, in order to accelerate growth.

THE future of the only A&E hospital service in Limerick city centre at St John’s Hospital remains uncertain, it was claimed yesterday.

HOSPITALS that fail to comply with new infection control standards will be named and shamed by the state’s health services watchdog.

THE refusal of the HSE to make a commitment to the future of the minor injuries A&E clinic at St John’s Hospital in Limerick was condemned yesterday.

OUR Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda and the Mater in Dublin have been pinpointed as the hospitals with the country’s two worst accident and emergency (A&E) services in the country.

DOCTORS and nurses at St John’s Hospital in Limerick have been chosen by patients as the most caring in the country, a recent survey shows.

An 18-year-old is recovering in hospital tonight after a shooting in Limerick city.

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.

SPECIAL security measures have been put in place for Rocky the sniffer dog who has angered criminals in Limerick Jail by cutting off their drugs supplies.