The Government has been given 21 days to sort out the consultant recruitment crisis - or face potential strike action.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) claims pay inequality has led to mass medical emigration which has resulted in more pressurised conditions.

It has warned that it will ballot for industrial action if the Government does not produce "concrete proposals" to reverse the recruitment crisis.

This comes after the IMO met with officials from the Department of Health, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Department of Public Expenditure on Thursday.

The IMO says that "regrettably" the Government "failed to put forward any proposals to address the crisis in consultant recruitment."

Thee group says as a result of the shortage, 770,000 patients are on hospital waiting lists - with a further 165,000 waiting for vital imaging services, such as MRI and ultrasound.

It also points to a "particularly severe" shortage of specialists in areas such as ophthalmology, paediatrics and psychiatry.

And it warns that the situation is creating high levels of stress and burnout among doctors providing services in "a chronically under-resourced environment".

Dr Matthew Sadlier is a consultant psychiatrist and a former president of the IMO.

"The Government has shown a complete lack of interest in producing any substantive solutions to this crisis which is adversely affecting patients."

"We want to provide our patients with the best possible quality of care, but we can only do that in a system that is safe and properly resourced.

"We need to recruit more specialists into the vacant posts before any reform will be possible."