People being responsible citizens is the most important part of the State’s strategy in containing the coronavirus, the Department of Health has stressed.

A call by nurses for a major incident protocol to be adopted across the country to alleviate hospital overcrowding has been backed by opposition parties.

Dr Kevin Kelleher also said that there had been a “massive” increase the number of vaccines given out by the health authority.

With weeks to run to peak flu season, hospitals are in the grip of a system-wide crisis as the nation’s emergency departments (ED) plunge deeper into chaos.

Anglers in the north-east say they are 'terrified' that a mysterious virus could wipe out salmonid stocks across the country.

On four occasions since April UHL has had 81 patients waiting and last month the hospital had over 1,400 people without beds.

The number of vacant hospital consultant posts across the public health service is heading towards 500 at a time of HSE recruitment restrictions and when emergency departments are buckling under trolley numbers.

Attendances at hospital emergency departments increased by more than 2% this year compared to the same time last year, it has emerged.

Pressure on the country's acute hospitals continued today with 517 admitted patients waiting for a bed on trolleys in emergency departments (EDs) or on wards.

Latest: The Health Minister has recognised the "intense efforts" of health service staff as the number of people on hospital trolleys reached a new national record high for the second day in a row.

The HSE says hospitals struggling to cope with the flu epidemic will not turn people away.

Nurses fear the HSE’s spending plan poses a “high risk” to the safe delivery of patient care.

The HSE has warned of critical “cost pressures” next year.

Stronger enforcement of the rules limiting private practice in public hospitals is needed, an official from the Department of Health told the Oireachtas health committee.

Four hospitals in Britain, Germany and France have been engaged by the HSE to treat children with scoliosis, it has emerged.

There were 601 patients on trolleys in acute hospitals across the country yesterday, the third highest figure this year, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The lack of a dedicated obstetric theatre in University Hospital Kerry (UHK) poses the greatest risk to patient safety and care, according to documents obtained by the Irish Examiner.

The head of the HSE’s acute hospitals division has apologised for the recent weeks of overcrowding.

The difficulties that public patients have in accessing 20-week foetal anomaly scans, combined with unfeasibly large gynaecology waiting lists, bolster the case for independent governance of Cork University Maternity Hospital.

A year after the launch of the first National Maternity Strategy, key posts remain unfilled in the office set up to drive its implementation.

The health minister wants heads on plates over the emergency department crisis, but the labyrinthine management structures in the health services may make his targets hard to choose. Caroline O’Doherty tries to untangle a very messy bureaucratic web.

If you’re looking for its Achilles heel, you won’t find it in the labour wards or the neonatal unit. But are colossal gynaecology waiting lists threatening the reputation of Ireland’s newest maternity hospital? Health Correspondent Catherine Shanahan says consultants are at breaking point and women’s lives are being put at risk

A controversial memo advising nurses of their right to remove “trespassing” public patients from acute hospital beds when others are more in need has been withdrawn by the HSE.

The head of the HSE has pledged to visit the 19 hospitals most plagued by emergency department (ED) overcrowding in an effort to bring the trolley numbers under control.

St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin has been heavily criticised by the Oireachtas Health Committee for failing to appear before it in relation to serious allegations about its procurement practices.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says the number of people waiting on trolleys at hospitals across the country now stands at 401.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has insisted Health Minister Leo Varadkar must stop being “some sort of detached analyst” and take responsibility for health service crises if the problems are to be addressed.

The HSE has warned hospital consultants they risk being exposed to pay cuts if they do not attend a Labour Court hearing on Thursday.

The deepening recession is causing more people damaged by health service negligence to sue the State rather than accept the errors were unintended — with a potential €127m bill on the cards for this year.

Worried workers unable to access their wages because the companies they work for are with Ulster Bank will be able to receive one-off payments from other institutions.

The Central Bank has said that it is "closely monitoring" the situation at Ulster Bank, as tens of thousands of the bank's customers struggle to access their cash.

At least 100,000 people, including 29,000 social welfare recipients and 40,000 HSE employees, were left outraged when an Ulster Bank technical glitch left them without their pay.

THE HSE is in such dire financial straits that it will not pay staff for expenses which are already owed to them or which will be accrued during December until next year at the earliest.

HEALTH chiefs are unable to recoup nearly €200 million to pump back into public services because consultants are failing to sign off on their paperwork with insurers.

HOSPITALS will be barred from appointing any junior doctor agency workers from nextMonday, after senior HSE officials privately conceded plans to cut the short-term staff cost are failing.

THE health service will be over €400 million in debt at the end of this year and has been accused of being in the worst financial crisis in its history.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has accused hospitals of either “incompetence” or “mismanagement” after a HSE report showed they were €120 million over budget less than halfway through the year.

THE HSE fell almost €300 million short of its private income target last year, giving rise to the possibility taxpayers may be forced to plug the financial gap.

THE Public Accounts Committee is to question the HSE on the amount it spends on external public relations and consultants.

HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) bosses were awarded €1.23 million in bonus payments in 2006, yet a man could not get four hours of home help to keep his elderly mother out of a nursing home, a Dáil committee heard yesterday.

THE controversial ban on hiring staff, including front line health professionals, will remain in the health service for at least another year.