The Development Board for the new children’s hospital and St James’s Hospital has confirmed that an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), which included an Archaeology Report, found no evidence of graves or any other features of archaeological significance on the proposed site for the multi-million euro development.

A number of hospitals have made contact with Healthlink and the National Electronic General GP Referral Pilot Project to engage on electronic referral projects.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS)’s financial woes are continuing into 2014 after the Transfusion Service confirmed it recorded a reduction in income of €15.

The Health Information Bill (HIB) will expressly provide for an offence in relation to the buying and selling of patient identifiable information.

Uptake rates of the seasonal influenza vaccine, which is provided free of charge among healthcare workers (HCWs) in hospitals and long-term care facilities (LTCFs), generally increased in the 2013-2014 season, but remains “very low”, IMT reports.

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has been told by the Government that it should not approve public funding for human embryonic stem cell research pending a Government decision.

Reports suggesting some hospitals in the West are to lose their maternity services are “purely speculative”, the Department of Health has insisted.

By 2015, it is estimated that the number of MRI referrals will have reached 5,000 at Cork University Hospital (CUH) and this would equate to 7,800 scans, the HSE has said.

Details of a new essay competition open to all medical students have been announced by the National Programme Office for Traffic Medicine.

A temporary consultant in the Emergency Department (ED) is currently in place at Portlaoise Hospital and “is having a positive impact as evidenced by improvements in the trolley count at Portlaoise”, the Department of Health has insisted.