Doctors can expect further cuts in professional fees next year after the announcement in Budget 2010 that the Government wants to save at least €56 million on payments to professionals.

The IMO fears the prescription charge for medical card patients announced in Budget 2010 will be increased over time and will disproportionately affect the elderly, low-income groups and those suffering from chronic illnesses.

The Budget has cut a bill-ion euro from planned health spending for next year, with the 2010 figure projected at €14.

The 2010 Budget has been slammed on health grounds, following cuts in excise duty of 12 cent per pint of beer and cider, 14 cent per half glass of spirits and of 60 cent per standard bottle of wine.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has criticised the Government for reducing excise duty on all types of alcohol while we continue to have reports of the health and social harms caused by alcohol.

Terence Cosgrave takes stock of the events of 2009, and predicts another difficult year for the health service {openx:269} As we come to the end of 2009, most would agree that the year has not been one many of us will remember with fondness or warmth.

With the UK set to filter all blood destined for young children, Dara Gantly examines why the Irish Department of Health is not following suit {openx:269} The Department of Health still believes that a number of ‘significant issues’ need to be addressed before it can consider introducing a new blood filtration process for variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD).

The IHCA was due to meet with Minister for Health Mary Harney on Tuesday (December 15) to ensure that proposed pay cuts to consultants’ salaries were applied ‘on the same basis’ as they will apply to all other comparable public servants.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) is set to develop a comprehensive database of all NCHDs and their posts, some four years after the move was first recommended in the Buttimer Report.

Research in England suggests that child obesity trends suggest that there will soon be a class divide: wealthier, skinnier children and poorer, fatter children, according to the BBC.