When the investigation into the death of Hannah Comber at a north Cork hospital got under way seven years ago, the HSE promised to publish its findings “in the interests of her family, public confidence in their services, as well as openness and transparency”.

A former HSE employee has pleaded guilty to charges relating to the theft and attempted theft of over €170,000 from the HSE and it's suppliers.

A former HSE employee was brought before Cork District Court yesterday charged with stealing over €55,000 and attempting to steal another €107,000 from the health authority.

A former HSE employee was today charged with the theft and attempted theft of more than €170,000 from the HSE and some of its suppliers.

The security bill for Kerry General Hospital for the first nine months of 2012 was almost 10 times the cost of security services at Cork University Hospital.

It made “absolute sense” for a major acute hospital to use an overdraft facility to manage its cash flow problems, Health Minister James Reilly said yesterday.

A former HSE employee at the centre of a major Garda probe into alleged fraud at a Cork hospital was released without charge last night.

An elderly couple is living in fear after being left isolated in a housing estate, vacated for regeneration.

An average discharge time of 65 minutes has been reported for patients seeking emergency treatment at an urgent care centre on Cork city’s northside.

Cork is set to become a national “health innovation hub” as part of a project that could transform the health service and create jobs.

Irish Examiner journalist Jennifer Hough has been presented with a special award at the Inclusion Ireland annual conference in Wexford.

A new urgent care treatment centre will open in Cork today which will deal with minor injuries such as scalds and broken bones.

Private security in six HSE hospitals cost over €2m in 2010 and almost €900,000 for the first six months of 2011.

A FLEET of ambulances whisked patients from one hospital to another across Cork city yesterday as part of a major reconfiguration of the health service.

A REVISED €90 million regeneration plan for one of Cork’s most disadvantaged areas has been adopted, paving the way for the construction of hundreds of new council homes.

OPPOSITION politicians in Cork city warned that the closure of the emergency department at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital and the transfer of orthopaedic services from St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital may be a disaster for patients.

FINE GAEL TD Dara Murphy said there “was an element of let down” in seeing St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital transfer to the southside of Cork after told voters during the election campaign that it would not be moved.

THE emergency department at one of Cork city’s busiest hospitals is to close next April as part of a major reconfiguration of the region’s health services.

THE sister of a man living in an HSE-run facility for people with intellectual disability has expressed serious concern following an incident which left her brother with 22 staples in his head.

A DUBLIN-based surgeon who travels to Cork to host a monthly clinic for children with severe physical disability has never been paid for the service. The clinic not been acknowledged by the HSE.

MINISTER with responsibility for Disability Kathleen Lynch will tomorrow visit a locked residential institution in Cork city for people with intellectual disabilities.

HEALTH Minister James Reilly is being asked to explain why details of an inquiry costing more than €90,000 have still not been made public — nearly five years after an elderly patient’s death at a Co Cork hospital.

THE controversial withdrawal of services from smaller hospitals under the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) ambitious reform programme is to be halted pending review.

SINN FÉIN leader Gerry Adams has accused the Labour Party of having “ruled out” the development of a credible right/left divide in Irish politics by attaching themselves to Fine Gael.

THE economy and jobs are by far the biggest issues influencing how voters in Cork North Central will cast their ballot, but candidates’ work on local issues is the single biggest factor in who they will choose to give their first preference.

IT MAY be headline news, the talk of political commentators and spin doctors, and the butt of jokes on Twitter.

COMMUNITY and business groups have expressed disappointment at the failure of Labour and Fine Gael to meet promises after an investigation by the Irish Examiner revealed undelivered pledges made at the local elections.

HUNDREDS of elderly orthopaedic patients are being forced to wait as long as three years to be treated at one of the country’s leading hospitals.

A RADICAL overhaul of hospital services in Cork and Kerry which will reduce the number of round-the-clock emergency departments (EDs) to one per county is expected to be completed in just over three years.

A REVIEW is taking place into the provision of prosthetic limbs in the HSE South with plans to move amputation clinics from St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork to the Mercy University Hospital.

ATTENDING his last Oireachtas committee meeting on health and children as HSE chief executive, Brendan Drumm claimed that during his five years at the helm of the controversial health agency “solid progress has been made” but added “it would be naive to think that we still don’t have some way to go”.

ONE of the country’s first new community nursing units (CNUs), which are designed to ease pressure on acute hospital beds, will be run by the private sector.

THE 30 remaining mental health patients at a hospital in north Cork will be transferred to a new facility in Cork city by the end of the year.

THE last remaining public in-patient beds on the northside of Cork city will close within a year under plans to relocate orthopaedic services to the city centre.

THE board of an under-threat community hospital is due to meet this morning to discuss its future.

MEDICAL experts are reporting a significant surge in the winter vomiting bug in nursing homes and hospitals around the country.

Eighteen thousand homes in Cork city will be without a supply of drinking water until at least next weekend after a treatment plant was overpowered and damaged by yesterday's flooding.

ONE thing is guaranteed in what has been dubbed Cork’s “ward of death” – a sitting councillor will lose his seat.

THE Fine Gael party in Cork city has called for sweeping changes in the political system to give more power to local government.

A 35-YEAR-OLD man is in a critical condition in hospital after he and three others jumped from different floors of an apartment block to escape a blaze.

A FORMER soccer pitch in Cork’s suburbs has been rezoned for a 100-bed step-down unit that will help free up hospital beds.

HOSPITAL workers at the only hospital on Cork’s northside united last night to fight Health Service Executive (HSE) plans to downgrade the facility.

A NURSES’ dispute over a shorter working week will escalate unless the first step towards a resolution is delivered today.

NURSES are planning to protest outside a west Cork hospital today over the failure to implement agreed new working hours.