The Health Service Executive (HSE) says there are no plans to reduce or remove emergency services at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

Details have emerged today of an unpublished review which recommended the accident and emergency department be closed - and that surgical services there be brought to an end.

According to the Irish Times, the confidential document said the current full-time emergency service should be replaced by a medical assessment and local injury unit during the day.

And it suggests that serious cases - and those occurring at night - should be brought elsewhere.

It was completed last March, but the HSE says the situation has been 'stabilised' since then.

Additional staff have been hired, while new paediatric protocols and measures to monitor patient deterioration have also been put in place.