Frances Fitzgerald, the children’s minister, will today launch a new advocacy service for children in care amid calls for an overhaul of the guardian ad litem service in the courts.

More than 800 jobs are to be cut as part of a plan to slash budgets across health services in Cork and Kerry.

The majority of homeless children known to the Health Service Executive’s care services are in the HSE South area.

Private female patients who give birth in acute public hospitals are more likely to undergo a caesarean section than those treated on a public basis, a study shows.

Health authorities are to roll out a national measles vaccination campaign following a serious outbreak of the potentially fatal disease in West Cork.

Amputees will give the HSE until June 14 to shorten drastically waiting lists for prosthetic fittings in Cork and Kerry or they will mount further protests.

Inappropriate relationships between children, unauthorised adults in bedrooms, and staff without proper qualifications: These were just some of the child safeguarding breaches identified by inspections of residential centres last year.

A vulnerable teen was assaulted by a man outside a HSE facility in the South and it later emerged there had been “inappropriate behaviour” between her and the man, according to inspection reports released under Freedom of Information.

The number of confirmed measles cases in the West Cork outbreak has risen to 31, with fears that younger children are now at risk.

The first tangible plan to cope with the exodus of workers from the health service could hardly be more negative.

AS many as 900 public nursing home beds could be removed from the system within months in an attempt to cut health service costs — nearly double the initially reported figure of 555.

CASES of drug addicts seeking treatment and rehabilitation in Ireland have soared by 52% over the past six years, according to research.

NEARLY 600 new heroin injectors presented themselves to one of the country’s largest drug and homeless charities last year.

POLICING the booming heroin trade is likely to become more difficult across Europe, a top UN report has warned.

A SCOTTISH facility for seriously troubled youths which had previously taken referrals from the HSE is no longer going to do so as it needs the beds for its own young people.

MINISTER for Health Dr James Reilly officially opened a new dedicated treatment centre at Cork University Hospital (CUH) yesterday which will deliver vast improvements in the quality of care for people with bleeding disorders.

NEARLY 9,200 heroin addicts are currently in receipt of methadone, according to the HSE.

PUBLIC hospitals are owed almost €200 million in unpaid private patient charges, inpatient levies and other costs over the past year as a direct result of insurance coverage delays.

SIGNIFICANT failings in the management and staffing of special care units are compromising the state’s capacity to meet the needs of the vulnerable children they house, a report has found.

A VITAL scanner needed to detect cancer and brain disorders, which has lain idle at Cork University Hospital since 2009, should be operational early next year.

NEARLY 3,500 children are on the waiting list for orthodontic treatment in the HSE South — nearly 20 times as many as in the North East.

Fine Gael has called for an urgent review of TB services in Ireland after three known cases of the disease were confirmed in a Cork primary school.

A REPORT analysing the value of home care packages (HCP) in assisting elderly people to remain at home has found access to packages varies widely depending on where you live.

WATERFORD Regional Hospital is the only hospital in the south-east with a clinically viable Emergency Department (ED), according to a leaked report.

A WEEK-OLD baby was among the 75 children placed under a supervision order in Cork and Kerry last year over fears for their safety and well-being.

THE number of elderly people who are being financially, physically, sexually or emotionally abused by members of their own family could be 10 times higher than official records show, a senior HSE officer has conceded.

ALCOHOL and drug abuse in the family was the primary reason why children were being monitored by social workers under child protection guidelines, according to the most recent Government report on childcare services.

GOVERNMENT expenditure is leaving Ireland drastically short of nursing home beds to cater for the explosion in over-65s expected within 20 years.

THE HSE has spent more than half a million euro since the start of 2007 investigating bullying allegations and paying out compensation to workers targeted by harassment.

Members of the Irish Nurses Organisation are protesting outside Bantry Hospital in Cork today over the introduction of the 37.5-hour working week.

EIGHT people who suffer from intellectual disability and mental health issues are being sent outside the state by the health service because the treatment is not available here.

A CORK secondary school student diagnosed with TB was yesterday in a stable condition in hospital.