# Department of Health

Last week

12th March 2023 - 25th March 2023

# savita

Hundreds of heartfelt notes left at mural of Savita Halappanavar are published online

The personal messages left in tribute to Savita will now be preserved and accessible in the future.

10.6k

Mar 13th 2023, 1:26 PM

This month

March 2023

# contact tracing

Covid Tracker app expected to be 'decommissioned' by this summer

The app cost €811,227 to launch with over €100,000 spent on support and development in the six months after it launched.

12.4k

Mar 10th 2023, 6:00 AM

# Covid-19

HSE bought 10 times more ventilators than necessary, hundreds of which were unusable

The HSE spent €129 million on ventilators, buying nearly twice the number approved by the Department of Health.

14.4k

Mar 7th 2023, 3:45 PM

# women's healthcare

New endometriosis treatment plan to include faster treatment times and two specialist centres

The framework will be implemented on a phased basis, commencing this year.

8.0k

Mar 6th 2023, 1:30 PM

Last month

February 2023

# fair deal scheme

Nursing home staff question ethics of relying on large nutrition firms to assess residents

Nursing home staff said that elderly residents are being transferred to hospital to get catheters changed because it is so hard to access primary care.

19.0k

Feb 22nd 2023, 12:05 AM

# Robert Watt

Nursing home charges: Legal strategy was 'never challenged' by politicians, says top civil servant

Many medical card holders who were in long-term care between 1976 to 2005 had to pay when it should have been free.

7.1k

Feb 15th 2023, 12:43 PM

# Nursing Homes

Families of nursing home residents being charged for 'incontinence wear, bandages and therapy'

“It’s a scandal, one family paid €2,500 to a private nursing home in just over a year,” a TD said today.

15.2k

Feb 9th 2023, 5:40 PM

January

January 2023

# Explainer

Nursing home charges: What is the controversy about and how has the Government responded?

A 2011 memo stated that the liability from these incorrect charges could amount to €12 billion.

14.4k

Jan 31st 2023, 4:33 PM

# Nursing Homes

Calls for Government to publish records on 'secret strategy' for illegal nursing home charges

It follows a report in today’s Irish Mail on Sunday.

21.7k

Jan 29th 2023, 10:52 PM

# OPeration Transformation

Department of Health no longer a sponsor of RTÉ's Operation Transformation

In both 2021 and 2022, the Department spent €230,000 to sponsor the series which has come under criticism for its focus on weight loss.

17.7k

Jan 19th 2023, 12:32 PM

# Abortion

Still no timeline for safe access zone bill, deemed a 'priority' by Government in 2021

The legislation was meant to be published last March.

6.4k

Jan 18th 2023, 5:51 PM

# System Overload

Strength of gay community response to monkeypox was ‘key’ in controlling outbreak

After Covid, monkeypox was the first big test for Ireland’s public health system. How did we fare – and what can we learn?

13.0k

Jan 3rd 2023, 12:01 PM

# parking pressure

Government commitment to reduce hospital parking charges ‘not prioritised’

Despite repeated promises, little progress has been made to prevent the cost of hospital parking falling on the most vulnerable.

A HSE implementation plan to reduce parking charges was written in 2019 but 'has been superseded by the passage of time'

It would cost at least €4.75 million to cap daily charges at €10

Advocate: 'It would be an easy win for the government'

17.5k

Jan 2nd 2023, 12:00 PM

Last year

2022

# Organ Donation

250 organ transplants took place in Ireland this year

The HSE has thanked the donors and their families who made the life-saving transplants possible.

7.9k

Updated

Dec 29th 2022, 2:47 PM

# IMO

Junior doctors vote overwhelmingly in favour of agreement to tackle unsafe working hours

The agreement also grants guaranteed access to leave for essential exams.

13.0k

Dec 20th 2022, 4:18 PM

# Trolleys

Mater restricts visits due to high levels of respiratory infections as 'record' overcrowding hits hospitals

It’s the joint-highest number of patients without a bed that the organisation has ever recorded.

24.6k

Updated

Dec 19th 2022, 5:57 PM

# free contraception

Over 700 GPs still waiting for free contraception contracts to be finalised

The scheme was opened to women aged 17 to 25 last month.

5.5k

Oct 28th 2022, 7:42 AM

Voices

Opinion: Every woman needs access to reproductive healthcare over the course of her life

On the launch of its new ‘Every Woman’ report into healthcare, National Women’s Council Director Orla O’Connor looks at the challenges that still remain.

6.8k

Oct 25th 2022, 7:00 AM

# new cmo

Professor Breda Smyth appointed new chief medical officer at the Department of Health

Professor Smyth has been the interim chief medical officer since July, after Dr Tony Holohan stood down from the role.

18.2k

Oct 5th 2022, 3:53 PM

# sexual health

HSE launches free home testing for STIs

The test kits are available to people aged 17 or over and are delivered by post.

13.2k

Oct 4th 2022, 8:13 AM

# the needle has landed

HSE launches winter vaccination programme with flu and Covid-19 jabs

The HSE is inviting eligible groups to get their flu jab and their Covid-19 booster.

26.7k

Oct 3rd 2022, 7:30 AM

# Healthcare

Budget 2023 must address 'chronic' overcrowding in Irish hospitals, says INMO

It called for a ‘laser focus’ on recruitment of nurses and midwives.

9.4k

Sep 17th 2022, 1:07 PM

# pandemic

Current Covid wave has peaked but hospital capacity remains under pressure, says CMO

46 Covid-19 related deaths were reported in the first 19 days of this month.

16.1k

Jul 26th 2022, 3:56 PM

# free contraception

Free contraception for women aged 17 to 25 to be rolled out by September

President Michael D Higgins signed the measures into law today.

18.8k

Jul 21st 2022, 2:44 PM

# Cannabis Risk Alliance

Anti-cannabis group met privately with drugs minister to discuss possible RSA-style ad campaign

The Cannabis Risk Alliance met Frank Feighan in January last year.

The Cannabis Risk Alliance told Frank Feighan last year that there should be "full transparency" around lobbyists and advocates, Stephen McDermott writes.

However, a loophole in lobbying laws mean the group's communications with the Government do not themselves have to be recorded.

Activists have questioned why the group had access to Feighan when those advocating for a different approach have found access more difficult.

32.4k

Jul 19th 2022, 12:05 AM

# Coronavirus

Hospitals 'under considerable pressure' due to Covid, Holohan says in final pandemic report

Dr Tony Holohan stepped down as Chief Medical Officer this week.

16.0k

Jul 7th 2022, 5:41 PM

# sma

'Timing is key': Parents call for inclusion of rare genetic disease in newborn heel prick test

SMA is a degenerative disease that causes damage to nerves that develop muscle function and allow children to eat, move and breathe.

12.1k

Jun 28th 2022, 6:00 AM

# job vacancy

'Remuneration is significant': No appetite in Govt to increase €420k salary for next HSE boss

Questions have been raised about whether tensions between the HSE and Department of Health played a part in Paul Reid’s decision to step down.

24.6k

Jun 27th 2022, 6:40 PM

# Robert Watt

Working conditions for non-consultant hospital doctors must change, senior civil servant says

The Secretary General of the Department of Health said many doctors already work longer hours than what is considered legal and safe.

10.0k

Jun 15th 2022, 3:11 PM

# medical mission

Ireland has evacuated a total of 13 patients, including five injured soldiers, from Ukraine

So far 13 people, including five soldiers, have been brought to Ireland for medical treatment from Ukraine.

13.6k

Jun 14th 2022, 11:56 AM

# Dust down the cv

Applications are now open for the Chief Medical Officer job

The job comes with an €187,578 annual salary and the deadline for applications is 30 June.

14.3k

Jun 10th 2022, 11:08 AM

# Labour Court

Medical scientists to suspend strike action next week and will return to WRC for talks

The three days of strike action planned for next week have all been suspended, say the MLSA.

5.4k

May 25th 2022, 10:23 PM

# Cystic Fibrosis

'Intensive work' ongoing to give 35 children with Cystic Fibrosis access to life-changing drug

Donnelly said it is important to him ‘that children get access to the drug that they need’.

7.8k

May 24th 2022, 6:27 PM

# NMH

Government will press ahead with plans for new maternity hospital

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there was an urgent need for the new hospital.

13.6k

Updated

May 9th 2022, 1:39 PM

THE MORNING LEAD

Q&A: What are the issues surrounding the National Maternity Hospital moving to St Vincent's?

A report by

Céimin Burke

A range of questions are hanging over the relocation plan.

17.8k

Updated

May 7th 2022, 12:05 AM

# Health

'A tenner a year lease': Martin says maternity hospital will effectively be in public ownership

Yesterday Cabinet delayed a final decision on the future of the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) amid ongoing controversy over the project.

The Oireachtas Health Committee is set to interrogate the plans before the matter goes back to Cabinet in two weeks' time.

Minister Catherine Martin has described this as "a valuable process".

Minister Simon Harris says there was agreement across the three government parties, and all genders, to delay a decision.

33.7k

Updated

May 4th 2022, 8:10 PM

# botched appointment

Donnelly orders external review into Tony Holohan's abandoned secondment at Trinity College

The Health Minister said he ordered the review “to examine learnings and recommendations that could inform future such initiatives”.

27.3k

Apr 13th 2022, 10:11 PM

# Hepatitis

HSE investigating small number of 'serious' hepatitis cases in children

It comes after British health officials identified 74 cases of hepatitis among children under the age of 10 across the UK.

57.5k

Apr 12th 2022, 9:04 PM

# DAILY FIGURES

Coronavirus: 4,761 new cases and 1,004 patients in hospital, including 53 in ICU

The Department of Health announced the figures in a statement this afternoon.

15.8k

Apr 12th 2022, 3:20 PM

# new tcd role

'Lessons have to be learned' from Dr Holohan TCD role controversy, Taoiseach says

Dr Holohan said yesterday he will not proceed with a new role in TCD after stepping down as Chief Medical Officer later this year.

41.4k

Updated

Apr 10th 2022, 7:00 PM