A scam in which hospital patients received letters advising them they had won money in a lottery has been reported to An Garda Síochána.

The most drastic action or “last resort” available to hospitals when dealing with emergency department (ED) overcrowding has already been deployed 1,600 times this year.

So that’s nearly Wednesday wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

A 13-month-old boy whose parents were unduly influenced by anti-vaccine information on social media ended up in intensive care at University Hospital Galway (UHG) with a preventable illness.

A number of patients had raised concerns after receiving a letter in the post from an organisation calling itself the Anglo American Lottery.

Man, 30, told gardaí he would harm local schoolchildren and wanted to commit ‘suicide by cop’

The HSE received more than 23,000 formal complaints about the health service in 2016. The main issues raised included access, dignity and respect, safe and effective care, communication, and clinical judgement.

Latest A major Garda Operation in Galway city has ended with a man being brought to hospital.

A mother of five found dead in a hotel room in Galway earlier this week was the “very essence of life” and a much-loved parent, grandmother, and childminder, says the priest in her parish of Donoughmore, Co Cork.

The cost of surgeries carried out in public hospitals for the treatment of morbid obesity was over €1 million last year, according to new figures.

Ireland would come to a financial standstill and medical procedures would be stalled if the country was hit by a cyber attack.

A record 9,500 patients ended up on hospital trolleys last month, the highest number for the month of March in over a decade.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny must explicitly set out his time-frame for stepping down this Wednesday or risk “tearing Fine Gael apart”, senior figures last night warned.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has described as an “insult” the proposal to add 63 beds to the acute hospital system in the context of trolley figures reaching a record high of 612 this week.

Patients intending to go to the Emergency Departments at University Hospital in Kerry and in Galway are being warned to expect long delays due to increased activity.

A patient with metastatic cancer told a doctor he would rather “drown myself in the river” than return for treatment to a cancer centre of excellence where he would face emergency department delays and the likelihood of days on a trolley.

A law graduate has been sentenced for five years in prison with 18 months suspended for setting fire to a medical student in a Galway nightclub three years ago.

Some members of staff at the hospital where Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar tragically died in October, 2012 are still on sick leave.

Almost a third of the staff involved in the treatment of Savita Halappanavar, whose death in October 2012 has sparked major abortion law reforms, have been disciplined over their role in the tragedy.

A 60-year old man died following an altercation at an election party in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A leading cancer doctor has warned that failure to progress two long-awaited radiation oncology centres in Cork and Galway would deprive patients in the south and west of services already available in Dublin.

Staff responsible for the care of Savita Halappanavar at the hospital where she died are to face disciplinary proceedings.

A range of medical specialties are not available in the hospital which was strongly criticised over the death of Savita Halappanavar.

Niall Kelly, a registrar at Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, says he worries about making mistakes because of the long hours he works.

If Savita Halapannavar was given a termination, she may still be alive today, according to the head of the HSE inquiry into the circumstances surrounding her death last year.

Midwives say unsafe staffing levels in maternity units around the country could lead to a repeat of the catastrophic systems failures that claimed the life of Savita Halappanavar.

Two cancer patients in their 30s will become the first beneficiaries of a new liver cancer treatment which has been developed on their doorstep.

The number of people forced to be treated on hospital trolleys has fallen by 17% in a year — but is still a massive 33% higher than when the crisis was first labelled a “national emergency”.

ONE Irish and four British private companies are vying to win a lucrative contract to effectively manage two of Ireland’s largest regional hospitals for the next 15 months.

A 78-YEAR-OLD patient has been forced to spend the last four nights on a trolley in University Hospital Galway (UHG) due to overcrowding.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called on Health Minister James Reilly to intervene in the overcrowding crisis at University Hospital Galway (UHG).

HOSPITALS are still being gripped by an emergency department crisis, with more than 400 people on trolleys every day on average over the past fortnight.

CORK University Hospital (CUH) has been named as one of the country’s worst performing public health facilities for the third time since April.

A CORONER has deemed the death of a five-year-old girl who suffered brain damage when just six weeks old after being given prescription baby food containing 124-times the permitted level of magnesium as a medical accident.

The Health Information and Quality Authority said today it has no plans at this stage to launch an investigation into antenatal services.

MANAGEMENT and staff at the biggest hospital in the west of Ireland have been told by Health Minister Mary Harney to become more efficient and make better use of resources.

AN internal hospital report calling for infection control improvements to prevent a repeat of last year’s deadly clostridium difficile outbreak at University Hospital Galway (UHG) has yet to be implemented six months after it was concluded.

MEDICAL staff were doing nixers in a public hospital for Barringtons private clinic in Limerick, it has emerged.

A REVIEW into cancer services at University College Hospital Galway has revealed a locum pathologist made mistakes in cancer checks of 50 patients.

The Health Information and Quality Authority’s (HIQA) report into the misdiagnosis of cancer patient “A” examined the pathology services at University Hospital Galway (UHG).