Ireland's Health Service Executive said it is investigating the death of an elderly man at a Mayo County nursing home where food poisoning is possible. The health organization said in a statement the death of the unidentified 89-year-old man at the St.

By Ian Carey PATIENTS with serious brain injuries are being forced to wait up to two years for rehabilitation treatment, even though experts recommend that it should be provided within 24 hours.

CALLS for the postponement of a controversial new drug payment scheme, due to come into force this weekend, were heard in the Dail yesterday. The Health Service Executive plans to reduce the profit margins that pharmacies take on wholesale medicines in a cost-cutting plan.

THE Health Service Executive is to use radiotherapy facilities in private hospitals to cut down lengthy waiting lists. The HSE's National Hospitals' Office has signed service level agreements with four Dublin hospitals - St Vincent's Private, the Mater Private, Hermitage Clinic and Beacon Hospital.

By Helen Bruce MORE than 300 pharmacies could close as a result of threatened HSE cuts in payment, the pharmacists union warned yesterday. The Health Service Executive plans to push through reductions in payments to pharmacists for providing medicines to medical card patients.