New certification guidelines for GPs, among the winners at last year’s Irish Healthcare Awards, is another example of how the judging panel has a knack on picking the most innovative health projects before they go mainstream, reports June Shannon.

The health system needs not only to learn continuously from complaints, but also to provide evidence of the resultant service improvements, proposes Lloyd Mudiwa.

Dear Editor, GPs have received correspondence and information leaflets from the HSE regarding the under-sixes contract.

Dr Ruairi Hanley believes the recent campaign against paying this year’s Medical Council fee increase was ill-judged and one that received little support from the profession.

Prof Brendan Kelly reconnects us with the centuries-old traditions of healing for the mentally ill in Ireland, including a seaside rock shaped like an armchair near Dunany Point, Co Louth.

Ed Madden, BL, looks at the recent European Court of Justice judgment on NCHD working hours, which found in favour of the State and against the European Commission’s action.

Consultant Otolaryngologist Mr Liam Skinner and Dr C Fitzgerald of University Hospital Waterford explain how thorough clinical examination can aid early diagnosis and improve patient survival.

With a recent quadrupling of cases of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers, Ms Orla Young, Consultant ENT, Head & Neck Surgeon at Galway University Hospital, looks at how the virus causes cancer and examines current treatment and prevention options.

The surge in cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma can be explained by over-diagnosis, explains Prof James Paul O’Neill, Professor of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery at Beaumont and the RCSI.

Mr John Kinsella, Head & Neck Consultant Surgeon at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, on spotting the signs of oral SCC and the diagnosis and treatment options available.