A NEW medical school in Derry must be "urgently actioned" to improve doctor recruitment, politicians have been told.

An extra 1,000 medical consultants will be needed in Northern Ireland by 2033, the BMA has said.

TRAUMA care in Northern Ireland is set to take a "real step forward" with the helipad at the north's biggest hospital due to be operational by next week.

AS the fifteenth anniversary of their son's death approaches, a family who fought to change the system for vulnerable young people reflects on a former British minister's intervention in their case.

MORE than £80m has been spent on suicide prevention in Northern Ireland since 2006 yet rates remain the highest in the UK.

CROWNED the happiest nation in the world last year by the UN, Finland was once synonymous with spiralling suicide rates.

A "significant rise" in the number of children referred for specialist mental assessments has led to almost 350 young patients being placed on waiting lists.

A WEST Belfast priest has said the link between people living under threat from paramilitary groups and high levels of suicide, among already vulnerable groups, must be addressed.

THE mother of a severely epileptic boy has hailed a breakthrough in a court battle to obtain medicinal cannabis for him on the NHS.

HEALTH officials are ramping up preparations for the first case of coronavirus in Northern Ireland which they now say is inevitable.

EMERGENCY support has been provided to schools after 25 sudden deaths of young people in two years.

THE "clear link" between meditation and improved mental health has been borne out in a joint study by academics from Northern Ireland and Australia.

A PATIENT with suspected coronavirus who presented to a Co Down hospital last Friday has reportedly tested negative.

HEALTH chiefs last night refused to comment on reports that a patient was being tested in a Co Down hospital for the coronavirus.

A woman who underwent a double mastectomy has praised a radical working-class loyalist programme for helping her keep going.

Nine out of ten people who took their own lives and were known to mental health services were assessed as posing a low or no risk of suicide, an official said.

RESTRICTING abortions to "arbitrary" points before 24 weeks in Northern Ireland will only create barriers for women, healthcare workers have claimed.

ONE of Ireland's richest men has dug deep to help a Co Derry teenager raise more than £12,000 for cancer research.

Two members of the same family have tested positive for coronavirus in England.

MORE than 1,500 people gathered in Dunloy this week to voice their concerns about drug dealers.