Any plan to have GPs working alongside consultants in hospital emergency departments could result in an 'extraordinarily efficient service' but it will not work as a stop-gap measure, according to a leading GP in Cork.

A million people are on waiting lists for acute hospital appointments, according to the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association.

Hospital consultants will be balloted for strike action in September unless talks take place to address the "crisis" in consultant recruitment.

The chief executive of Children’s Health Ireland has said that there needs to be an urgent change in pay policy for new consultants.

The Government's response to claims about the state of University Hospital Waterford's mortuary has been described as "alarming" by a group representing over 90% of hospital consultants.

A total of 546,630 patients are waiting for a hospital outpatient appointments in Ireland, new figures from The National Treatment Purchase Fund reveal.

New figures released from the HSE has revealed there are 350 vital consultant posts vacant in Ireland.

Substantial progress has been made in talks aimed at resolving breach of contract claims brought by Irish hospital consultant doctors against the HSE and the State, the High Court has heard.

The government has been accused of playing fast and loose with the constitution after revelations private investigators were hired to spy on hospital consultants.

Concern are being expressed at the number of consultants in the country's hospitals without specialised training.

Concerns are being raised over extremely long delays for women seeking treatment at Cork University Maternity Hospital.

Up to 2000 hospital consultants could be set to receive millions of euro in compensation over the HSE's failure to honour a contract which included higher salaries.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association is seeking a meeting with the HSE, to discuss its reaction to proposals put forward by the Labour Relations Commission.

Hospital consultants have denied that negotiations with the HSE over work practice reforms have collapsed.

Talks between consultants and the HSE at the Labour Relations Commission have been adjourned and will resume at 10am tomorrow morning.

Health Minister Mary Harney has today agreed to meet with hospital consultants to discuss what they claim is a breach of their working contracts.

The end of the long-running dispute over hospital consultants' contracts will be considered by the national council of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) today.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said today that it is not yet in a position to recommend the new consultant contract to its members.

Hospital consultants are hitting out at the HSE for a lack of urgency in efforts to finalise their new working contracts.

Hospital consultants are meeting HSE officials this afternoon in an attempt to finalise details of their new contract.

Consultants tonight branded new draft contracts offered by the Health Service Executive 'unacceptable'.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association has accused the Health Service Executive of deliberately trying to sabotage negotiations on new contracts for hospital doctors.

Negotiations between hospital consultants and the HSE over new work contracts are resuming today.

The Government has given a six-week deadline for hospital consultants to agree on a new contract, it emerged tonight.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association has claimed that plans by Minister for Health Mary Harney to press ahead with hiring 1,500 new hospital doctors will actually be detrimental to the health service.

Minister for Health Mary Harney is expected to present contentious plans to the Cabinet today for the recruitment of 1,500 new hospital doctors.

Hospital consultants will decide today whether or not to go ahead with planned industrial action next month.

Hospital consultants today urged health minister Micheál Martin to solve a dispute over insurance, after they postponed strike action for four weeks.

Hospital consultants have agreed to suspend their campaign of industrial action against a new insurance scheme following a meeting with the Minister for Health.