Major difficulties for the health service are feared if the HSE bills patients directly in cases where a consultant has not signed an insurance claim-form within 30 days of a discharge.

A community-based service to prevent falls among the elderly has reduced the rate of falls by 55 per cent, according to a new study.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) has arranged treatment for just 7,894 inpatients and first-time consultations for 3,000 out-patients in the five months to the end of May.

A flu pandemic more severe than the H1N1 virus in 2009 could lie ahead, the British Medical Journal reports.

The members of the review team to investigate reported miscarriage misdiagnoses will be headed by the Vice President of the Royal College of Obstetrics in the UK, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed.

There are currently 246 Primary Care Teams (PCTs) in place across the country, supported by 3,400 staff and 890 GPs, the HSE has revealed.

Clinical update: Alzheimer’s – A number of recent studies targeting the amyloid pathway in Alzheimer’s disease have proved negative, and there is now some doubt as to whether amyloid plays as central a role in the disease as had previously been thought.

Just 15 hospitals have provided data to the HSE on the latest emergency department (ED) waiting times, well short of targets set out in the HSE’s Service Plan for 2010.

A group at UCD is researching the effects on electrical activity in their brain, which is related to learning, of a chemical found in high concentrations in Alzheimer’s disease patients.

The Government believes that reference pricing will introduce competition in the off-patent drugs market, reports Gary Culliton {openx:269} Potential savings of up to €22.