Psychiatric Nurses at University College Hospital in Galway have warned the HSE they will undertake industrial action within the next fortnight, if new staff aren't hired.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association will ballot its members on industrial action this evening in response to understaffing and concerns for patient care at UCHG.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association is calling on the Government to recognise the needs of mental health services, particularly at UCHG.

A mentally ill patient with a persistent choking problem was denied access to essential speech and language therapy as the HSE did not have a service for adults in mental health facilities.

Gardaí have launched a murder investigation after a man who sustained serious injuries during an alleged assault in Galway last week died in hospital.

A two-year-old girl and her two-month-old baby sister have been killed in a car accident in Co Galway this afternoon.

The Ambulance Service has apologised to the family of a 19-year-old girl, who died after she was taken to hospital via an indirect route.

Gardaí investigating a fatal road traffic collision at Claretuam, Galway yesterday are looking for witnesses of the incident, which involved three cars and a van.

OVERTIME paid to HSE registrars is still costing over €100 million a year, while 15 hospital doctors around the country earned more than €100,000 in overtime alone last year.

Nurses say overcrowding in the emergency department at University College Hospital Galway is reaching crisis point.

THE director of operations for Health Executive Service (HSE) West, John Hennessy, yesterday called for the criteria in which acute hospitals are evaluated through the HSE Healthstat system to be changed.

A COMPLETE overhaul in the management of the worst performing hospital in the country is to take place.

THERE have been calls for the Minister for Health to intervene in at University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) after it was found to be the worst-performing hospital in the country for the second month running.

THE chairman of the HSE West Regional Forum, Padraig Conneely, has called on Health Minister, James Reilly, to intervene in the performance of University College Hospital Galway.

Unions and the HSE have been meeting in Galway over the future of Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe.

Talks get underway at the Labour Relations Commission in Galway later in a bid to resolve a row over hospital services.

Pilgrims at a renowned religious site in the west of Ireland were warned today that staring at the sun in the hope of seeing apparitions could seriously damage their eyesight.

PATIENTS are waiting up to 600 days to see a consultant at outpatient clinics in some hospitals around the country, according to the Health Service Executive performance information system HealthStat.

SURGERIES for morbidly obese people here could cost the public almost €6 million every 12 months within the next decade, it has been claimed.

NOT one out of 29 major hospitals has turned in a good performance so far this year, according to a Health Service Executive efficiency rating programme.

WORKING long hours is an occupational hazard when it comes to pregnancy, according to a study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (BJOG).

THE latest pathologist to have his work examined by the HSE is still under investigation in Britain and has been suspended until the outcome of the investigation is known.

The work of a third consultant pathologist at University College Hospital Galway is under review due to concerns about the standard of his work.

I WOULD like to thank the Health Information & Quality Authority (HIQA) for their investigation of errors in my diagnosis of breast cancer between September 2005 and June 2007 while a patient at Barrington’s Hospital, Limerick.

HEALTH trade union IMPACT has claimed a series of ward closures in Galway over the summer will have a devastating effect on patients and communities in the region.

A woman who was wrongly given the all clear for breast cancer for 18 months at Barrington’s Hospital in Limerick has strongly criticised the private hospital.

The following is a statement made by Patient A about her experiences as a breast cancer patient that saw her misdiagnosed three times:

Patient A, the unidentified 51-year-old Tipperary woman at the centre of last week’s cancer misdiagnosis controversy, has issued a statement covering multiple misdiagnoses of her breast cancer over a period of 18 months from September 2005 to March 2007.

The crisis surrounding breast cancer services in the state was tonight branded one of the blackest chapters in the recent history of the country's health system.

Fianna Fáil deputies would support a motion of no confidence in Minister for Health Mary Harney if given a free vote by party chiefs, Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said tonight.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney will “robustly” face down her opponents in the Dáil tonight when defending the motion of no confidence arising from her role in the cancer screening crisis.

WE have learned with dismay of the proposed transfer of symptomatic breast services from Mayo General Hospital to University College Hospital Galway (UCHG), which is to be 90% completed by the end of 2009.

THE hospital that carries out vital smear tests on behalf of women in the south-east has advised doctors it can no longer do so because of the health service staff freeze.

THE crisis in the health service deepened last night with revelations that more than 41,000 patients are on waiting lists at a time when health service employers have banned staff recruitment.

A member of the team investigating the misdiagnosis of breast cancer sufferer Rebecca O’Malley urged the Government today to designate specialist testing centres around the country.

LABOUR’S Liz McManus has called for a fundamental review of how breast cancer tests are processed after it emerged a second botched test resulted in a woman not being treated for the condition for a year-and-a-half.

Health Minister Mary Harney tonight ordered an investigation into how a woman with breast cancer was twice mistakenly given the all-clear.

The wreckage of a small plane which crashed in Co Galway, causing the deaths of two people, has been removed for further examination, the Department of Transport said today.

Four people were seriously injured today after a plane crash in Connemara, emergency services have confirmed.

Gardaí have launched an investigation after the body of a 44-year-old Polish man was discovered in Co Galway today.

PAEDIATRICIANS at some of the State’s largest hospitals outside Dublin have condemned the Health Service Executive (HSE) for failing to include them in the consultation process for a new national children’s hospital.

FOR years, activists campaigning for improved cancer services have argued the obvious: patient outcomes are reflected in access to quality treatment.

The number of people waiting for hospital beds reached a record high tonight, with 455 patients on A&E trolleys.