Dear Editor, With apologists/sycophants (self-serving or otherwise) such as Dr Ruairi Hanley, it’s no wonder the proposed Shell/Corrib project is 12 years behind schedule and four-and-a-half times over budget.

Dear Editor, I am at a loss why Irish Medical Times choose to publish an opinion piece on the Corrib Gas Project that has not the remotest bearing or relation to any medical issues (‘Put ED plan, not Shell, out to sea’, Dr Ruairi Hanley, IMT, November 13, 2015).

Discussions are currently under way to increase the number of GP trainees due to commence in the next intake in July 2016, the HSE has said.

The National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) plans to develop a 32-branch GP network across the country to ensure that local issues are heard.

A national study of junior doctors and consultants being undertaken by RCPI in collaboration with RCSI, the College of Anaesthetists, College of Psychiatry, Irish Association of Emergency Medicine and Dublin City University, will for the first time reveal the level of abnormal stress in the hospital doctor population in Ireland when completed early next year.

New hospital CEO appointments will be based on a five-year employment contract that will include specific performance criteria to ensure that performance standards for CEOs are both set and measured, the Department of Health has said.

The IMO has said it does not accept that deductions can be made directly from GMS capitation on the basis of a patient complaint, following reports that more than €8,000 was refunded to medical card holders after the HSE ruled that GPs had incorrectly charged for phlebotomy services.

Emergency Departments (EDs) cannot function both as EDs and “warehouses for admitted patients while they await hospital beds”, the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM) has said.

The HSE envisages it will be in a position to publish all waiting lists in real time by next month, IMT reports.

The HSE is set to appoint 1,000 intern healthcare assistants, multi-task attendants and other support grades to permanent positions, subject to satisfactory service, IMT reports.