The planned opening of a €2m, high-observation psychiatric unit — which has remained closed since last December, due to staff shortages — has again been postponed, a nurses’ union has claimed.

A residential centre in Cork City for adults with intellectual disabilities which is due to close has received a second damning inspection report by the Health Information and Quality Authority.

Health Minister James Reilly, on a breakneck trip to the South-West for a number of pre-election duties yesterday, denied he was being "held back" by Fine Gael strategists because of a perceived lack of popularity.

Emergency beds are being “under-utilised” at some of Cork’s mental health units and community services must be modernised, according to the HSE.

The HSE made nearly €3m from parking charges at Cork University Hospital last year, but still does not have adequate spaces on campus — which is causing problems in adjoining residential areas.

A 10-year wait for the reinstatement of a helipad at one of the biggest hospitals in the country should be concluded by no later than early 2015.

The HSE claims the recent introduction of advanced radio and communication technology has greatly enhanced the quality of the East Cork ambulance service.

A GP representative body has described a key part of HSE plans to reconfigure the ambulance service in West Cork as “dangerous and unworkable”.

Campaigners fighting to retain their region’s ambulance service have called on the HSE to engage in “meaningful” talks in a bid to ease concerns.

Diabetic children living in the South will no longer have to travel to Dublin for specialised treatment after the HSE South sanctioned the appointment of a diabetes nurse specialist at Cork University Hospital.

A decade-long search by Ireland’s largest trauma centre for a helicopter pad is set to continue due to chronic funding gaps and delays.

The use of expensive private care arrangements for children in the care of the HSE is to be reviewed as the executive seeks to reduce costs in childcare services by 7% in 2012.

SENIOR HSE officials have insisted there will be “absolutely no cutbacks” to ambulance services in Cork and Kerry — despite plans to cut on-call hours, reduce ambulance numbers and place an emphasis on first responder volunteers in rural communities.

THE HSE has spent almost €7 million since the start of 2009 renting 43 private properties in Cork city — despite having empty spaces in publicly-owned buildings in Munster.

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.

ALMOST 20,000 people are being forced to wait for outpatient appointments at one of the country’s largest hospitals — with nearly one in four on lists for more than a year.

THE Department of Health has given a commitment to review a HSE decision to close 16 beds at a Co Cork community hospital.

ALMOST two out of every five people with neurological conditions including stroke, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s have to wait more than half a year before they are diagnosed.

PEOPLE suffering from Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and potential brain tumours are being forced to wait up to three years for an outpatient neurology appointment.

CORK University Hospital’s (CUH) emergency department was swamped with a massive 4,411 patients last month — the highest rate ever recorded at the under-pressure facility.

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 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.

WORKERS at one of the country’s biggest smoke-free hospitals are under fire for smoking in nearby residential estates.

ALMOST €14 million will be slashed off the budgets of 18 hospitals in 2010 as a result of inefficiencies last year.

A NEW crisis pregnancy counselling service that will offer support and contraception to women of all ages was launched in west Cork yesterday.