The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has threatened to ballot consultants for industrial action next month if talks don't commence to deal with the crisis in recruitment afflicting the public health services.

THE emergency department at one of Cork city’s busiest hospitals is to close next April as part of a major reconfiguration of the region’s health services.

Hundreds of protesters have entered the A&E unit at Roscommon County Hospital in a bid to prevent the ending of its 24-hour emergency service.

THE mortality rate among heart patients who attend Roscommon Hospital is four times higher than the rate among patients attending University Hospital Galway, the health minister claimed last night.

A RADICAL overhaul of hospital services in Cork and Kerry which will reduce the number of round-the-clock emergency departments (EDs) to one per county is expected to be completed in just over three years.