MORE than 1,000 women and girls travelled from Northern Ireland to England or Wales for an abortion last year.

THE health service will need Northern Ireland's entire government budget to function in 20 years' time unless there is urgent reform, a powerful civil servant has warned.

A PERSONALISED 'music therapy' designed to trigger memories in dementia patients has had a profound effect on residents of a Belfast care home.

WORK helping parent-infant bonding for Co Down families experiencing "challenging and complex" social pressures has been singled out as a "rare jewel" in a report launched at Westminster.

DETECTIVES investigating the Muckamore Abbey Hospital abuse scandal have told families it will take another 12 weeks before viewing of CCTV footage of just one ward is complete - almost two years after the probe was first ordered.

THE number of police allocated to the Muckamore hospital probe has risen more than five-fold in the past two years, it has emerged.

ALMOST 90,000 patients are waiting to be admitted to hospitals in Northern Ireland, according to new figures.

ALCOHOL misuse among people over 50 is costing Northern Ireland health service an estimated £125 million a year, according to new research.

A rapid blood test which detects heart failure at an early stage has been developed by scientists at Queen's University in Belfast.

THE Department of Health has today published details of 'public engagement' events across Northern Ireland to discuss controversial proposals on overhauling stroke and breast assessment services.

The Department of Health last night said "sustained investment" is required to address the waiting list backlog after new figures revealed an increase in the number of people waiting to see a consultant for the first time.

AN independent inquiry into the biggest patient recall in Northern Ireland has revealed there have been 84 referrals to the General Medical Council.

WORKFORCE pressures and delays in mental health services across the Belfast health trust are putting suicidal patients at risk, a high-profile campaigner has warned NHS bosses.

CONTROVERSIAL seclusion and "potential financial abuse" of vulnerable patients were discovered over the past three months in inspections of a hospital at the centre of a massive abuse probe.

A TEENAGE schoolgirl became her mother's carer after she fell ill with hepatitis C contracted from infected blood, an inquiry has heard.

A teenage schoolgirl became her mother's carer after she fell ill with hepatitis C contracted from infected blood, an inquiry has heard

A DERRY man has told a landmark public inquiry that he learned an hour before taking the stand how the NHS had treated him with HIV-infected blood decades ago.

SPONTANEOUS applause broke out yesterday after the first witness at the Infected Blood Inquiry in Belfast finished giving evidence detailing the harrowing impact of the scandal on his life.

A haemophiliac infected with hepatitis from contaminated blood products has spoken publicly about his ordeal for the first time.

CHRONIC staffing shortages in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service left the entire city of Belfast without paramedic overnight cover on a Saturday night last month.