Other health news in brief
Beacon gets go-ahead for co-location plan
Beacon Medical Group said last night it had been granted planning permission for a 183-bed, six-theatre, co-located hospital on grounds leased from Mid-West Regional Hospital. It said the new facility would represent a €250 million investment.
When fully operational, the new hospital will directly employ more than 456 full-time staff, with additional part-time opportunities.
Beacon said the new hospital would accommodate up to 9,400 inpatients and 40,000 outpatients per annum. Capacity in the co-located hospital will also be available to the public hospital for public patients if required.
"No public land is being sold," it said in a statement.
Hearing loss is feature of diabetes
Hearing loss is a common but largely unrecognised feature of diabetes, scientists said yesterday.
A study has shown that adults with diabetes are about twice as likely to have impaired hearing as people without the condition.
Dr Kathleen Bainbridge, who led the US team of researchers, said: "We found that hearing loss was much more common in people with diabetes than people without the disease."
The new findings emerged after scientists analysed the results of a national hearing survey of more than 5,000 US adults.
TV guru admits to plagiarism
TV psychiatrist Dr Raj Persaud yesterday admitted using plagiarised material in a book and articles he wrote.
The doctor, who is famed for his regular appearances on daytime TV shows such as This Morning, admitted plagiarising four articles for his 2003 book From The Edge Of The Couch.