Open letter to the Risk Manager, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda Dear (name withheld), I am noticing an increasing trend from local hospitals whereby when patients are seen in the emergency department (ED) or OPD, that I am being subsequently written to, usually by anonymous NCHDs, with the expectation that I am to apparently follow up on an abnormal

The time has come for doctors to stop prescribing gluten-free foods to patients with coeliac disease and for the NHS to find a better way to support patients, says an editorial in the independent review of medical treatment, the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB).

Smoking bans are associated with a “consistent pattern of reduction in the risk of preterm delivery”, found a study published on bmj.

Dear Editor, I refer to the letter (Irish Medical Times, February 15, 2013) from Dr Pat Crowley of the AGP, which might give an erroneous impression of the IMO’s activity regarding the disgraceful withholding tax on professional fees emanating from the Ray MacSharry Budget of 1988.

Gary Culliton outlines the extent of Vhi cuts for consultants, which the health insurer says will turn back the clock 10 years in terms of benefits paid.

Concluding our month-long series on rare diseases,  to mark Rare Disease Day on February 28, Prof Eileen Treacy of the National Centre for Inherited Metabolic Disorders examines how Ireland’s Rare Disease National Plan will address the diagnosis, prevention, management, treatment and research into rare diseases.

By Lloyd Mudiwa.

By Lloyd Mudiwa.

By Gary Culliton.

By Gary Culliton.