The Mater Hospital in Dublin stated today that it will comply with the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act.

The Taoiseach revealed he has received “letters written in blood” over his Government’s legislation allowing abortion in limited circumstances, which was published last night.

Hospitals are spending as little as €2 on meals for patients — half the price of a McDonald’s Happy Meal and a rate doctors and nutritionists claim risks failing those most in need.

Countless Irish men may have needlessly undergone invasive surgery and chemotherapy because a widely-used blood test erroneously said they had life-threatening prostate cancer.

The Mater Hospital claims it remains the best site for the location of a national children’s hospital after it unveiled plans for a redesign of the original project which was unexpectedly rejected by An Bord Pleanála last February.

THE HSE has spent more than €1 billion on hospital overtime payments since it was established, the majority of which has been used to plug serious staff gaps linked to its “cost-saving” recruitment embargo.

The number of sick people waiting on trolleys and chairs for a hospital bed fell below 500 today.

Support staff at seven hospitals in Dublin are to hold a two day strike next month as part the escalation in the unions action against Government pay cuts.

PATIENTS waiting for outpatient appointments with consultants are facing queues up to 18 months long as hospitals deal with an unplanned surge in numbers.

Twenty-two soldiers have been taken to five hospitals in Dublin following the multi-vehicle accident on the M50 this morning, according to the Defence Forces.

PLANS for a cancer services unit have been put on hold at one of eight hospitals central to the successful delivery of the National Cancer Strategy.

ONE of the country’s busiest cancer units is to plead for the chance to stay open despite not being named as one of the eight big cancer centres where all patients must be treated within two years.

Medics have been left baffled after a hospital patient pronounced dead on Easter Sunday was dramatically later found to be alive.

Gardaí are investigating the possibility that contaminated heroin may have led to the deaths of six addicts in Dublin.

MEDICAL sources last night indicated that the Mater Hospital would be the site of the new national children’s hospital.

THERE is no evidence of an accident and emergency crisis and the number of people waiting on trolleys is due to failures throughout the hospital system, a new report has found.

THE chair of a group tasked with selecting a site for a new national children’s hospital has resigned because of a conflict of interest.

Health service bosses are considering an offer from a private development consortium to build a new National Children’s Hospital on a non-profit basis, it emerged today.

Victims and relatives of those who were killed in the Stardust disaster are gathering on Dublin's northside for a special memorial mass today.

A Northern Ireland man who plunged to his death while climbing a mountain in New Zealand had told his family how lucky he was to have escaped the Asian tsunami, it emerged tonight.

MANAGEMENT and consultants in hospitals have reported chaos in the way patients are assessed, admitted and discharged.

QUIZ King “I have started so I will finish” Magnus Magnusson yesterday launched a nationwide quest to find Ireland’s medical mastermind.

Dublin's five main teaching hospitals - Tallaght, Beaumont, St Vincent's, St James' and the Mater - are set to announce further bed closures in the coming days, according to reports this morning.

HOSPITALS found guilty of bad management and keeping patients in beds too long have been hit with fines totalling €6.4 million.