Working Time Directive (EWTD) data for December has identified 95 per cent compliance with the requirement for NCHDs not to be rostered or work shifts longer than 24 hours.

Almost a third of Ireland’s GPs (31%) expect they will leave the profession in the next five years (by 2020) and only 16 per cent would recommend the profession to their children, according to the results of a survey of more than 750 practitioners.

Almost 80 per cent of those waiting more than 13 weeks for GI endoscopies are concentrated in five hospitals — Beaumont, Tallaght/Naas, Tullamore, Waterford and Galway.

The IMO has said that the rising number of patients on hospital waiting lists would only be countered by a significant investment in hospital capacity and increased beds.

Consultant numbers at the end of last year were 79 whole time equivalents (WTEs) above 2013 levels.

HIQA has said that response time indicators “should be used alongside other measures of quality when they become available”.

A number of measures will be taken this year to develop primary care services further, Minister for Health Dr Leo Varadkar has pledged, which would allow more people to receive a wide range of “quality services” in their own community.

Letterkenny General Hospital (LGH)-Saolta University Health Care Group has advertised for a temporary consultant general surgeon and a consultant urologist in both the national press and international medical publications.

The second phase of the Public Health (Sunbeds) Act 2014 is to come into force from March 2.

The HSE has said that no orthopaedic patients from Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, have been diverted to Cavan.