THERE is “the very real danger” that the imminent drop in emergency department staff levels will leave hospitals unable to ensure the safety of patients from July, doctors have warned.

WHEN it comes to perks of the job, some are better than others and members of the medical profession do rather well by availing of free consultations and treatment from colleagues.

WHEN it comes to perks of the job, some are better than others and members of the medical profession do rather well by availing of free consultations and treatment from colleagues.

A LEADING doctors’ union has warned the HSE of safety standard concerns over some private ambulances used to plug health service gaps, just months after a confidential report identified glaring problems in the sector.

A DUBLIN software company will create jobs after securing funding of €1.8 million.

Unions say there is "every probability" the decision to end major surgeries at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan will be brought before the Labour Relations Commission.

A MAJOR row is erupting between medical consultants and the HSE over claims some doctors are breaching their contracts by treating almost double the number of private patients than allowed under existing rules.

SENIOR hospital doctors are to meet with HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm today over concerns that more than a thousand medics will be able to work in the health system from July without having to undergo any vetting checks.

THE HSE and the Minister for Health must police new consultants’ contracts properly to ensure the taxpayer gets good value for money.

A CRISIS is looming in the Irish health system due to an impending reduction of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs).

PLANS to close or limit accident and emergency departments across the country are being considered by the Health Service Executive.

It is being claimed today that staff at Tallaght Hospital in Dublin had raised red flags about a delay in reporting x-rays over the past number of years.

HOSPITAL consultants have insisted pay cuts of up to 15% for senior doctors outlined in the budget must include previous “stealth” reductions already taken if they are to be accepted by the profession.

THE Health Service Executive knew in advance about a clause in the new hospital consultants’ contract which will hit taxpayers for a loss of €50 million this year.

HOSPITAL consultants have raised concern over Health Minister Mary Harney’s plans to cut costs in the health service, claiming that despite agreeing to “100%” of reforms they will only be paid half of the promised salary increase.

HOSPITAL consultants can expect to receive back pay in the region of €40,000 on top of salaries of up to €250,000 when the Government signs off shortly on the new contract deal.

Hospital consultants say they want to see the exact details of the HSE's A&E review before the changes come into effect.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney said the €140 million for pay increases under the new consultants’ contract next year would not be released until there was real change in the way patient services were delivered.

HEALTH services are to revert to local control in the next 18 months under a massive restructuring of the Health Service Executive.

The national council of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association is to recommend that its members accept the latest proposals on a new contract with the HSE.

HOSPITAL consultants are likely to reject latest management proposals aimed at securing a contract when they meet today.

PLANS by the Health Service Executive to end weekend emergency surgery at a Cork hospital have been condemned by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association.

HOSPITAL consultants insisted yesterday a new contract could be agreed before the summer after Health Minister Mary Harney said she could not wait any longer and was pressing ahead with the recruitment of new consultant posts.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said today that it is not yet in a position to recommend the new consultant contract to its members.

THE Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association (IHCA) has described as “utterly bizarre” the failure by the author of a report into the Midlands’ Breast Care Crisis to interview the consultant at the centre of the affair.

The global search for 2,000 extra hospital consultants can begin now that an agreement has been reached on new contracts, Health Minister Mary Harney said today.

THE Health Service Executive has warned an extra 20,000 beds in public hospitals will be needed by 2020 at a cost of €4 billion unless changes are introduced in the provision of healthcare in Ireland.

A PATIENTS’ support group has accused Health Minister Mary Harney of hiding behind the Health Service Executive in a bid to avoid the fall out of the authority’s cost saving measures.

CONVINCING the public that health service reforms are working is her hardest battle, Health Minister Mary Harney conceded yesterday.

The Irish Hospital Consultant's annual conference is underway in Dublin today where the report on new working contracts is topping the agenda.

HOSPITAL consultants have accused the Health Service Executive (HSE) of trying to weasel its way out of providing the state’s long-promised 3,000 extra acute public hospital beds by 2011.

UNIONS representing health workers are to meet in emergency session today to decide on a joint response to the Health Service Executive’s massive cutbacks announcement.

Hospital consultants will not get a 2% pay increase because of their industrial action, the Government said tonight.

Irish hospital consultants are to begin industrial action from Monday.

THE Government is not bidding to smash the two-tier health system, as you claim in your editorial (Irish Examiner, April 12).

CATHERINE McNally (Irish Examiner letters, February 12) accuses hospital consultants of refusing to discuss changes in their contract, but she seems unaware the Department of Health and the HSE have yet to table any detailed proposals on a new contract.

SHORTLY before reading Peter Molloy’s letter headlined ‘Health service must not be held to ransom by powerful, wealthy clique’ (Irish Examiner, January 30), I took a call from a surgeon in a Dublin hospital.

HOSPITAL consultants yesterday accused Health Minister Mary Harney of trying to deflect public attention away from the ills of the health service with her plan to recruit an additional 1,500 consultants.

HOSPITALS will forfeit a slice of their annual funding for failing to tackle the A&E crisis and to maintain acceptable hygiene standards, it was learned yesterday.

HOSPITAL consultants say a Health Service Executive (HSE) directive that all patients at Monaghan General Hospital needing emergency surgery must be transferred immediately to Cavan General Hospital is unworkable.

HIP surgery patients face a delay of three years just to get onto a waiting list for treatment at one of the country’s largest hospitals, where consultants are dealing with a work-load three times the recommended level.

THE CEO of the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), Pat O’Byrne, is reported as stating that the NTPF did not manage hospital waiting lists — that was a matter for the hospitals and the consultants (Irish Examiner, June 22).

HOSPITAL consultants have accused Health Service Executive (HSE) employers of having “no real interest in health reform”.

Two medical organisations have withdrawn from talks due to take place today with health service bosses to negotiate a new contract for hospital consultants.