Senior Department of Health officials will be briefed on the radical changes planned for the health sector when they gather at a Dublin hotel this afternoon.
The briefing will take place after this morning's Cabinet meeting, at which the Prospectus and Brennan reports on reform will be discussed.
While it is expected the Cabinet will give the go-ahead today for the sweeping changes proposed in the reports, a senior Department source last night said there was a possibility members of Cabinet could put off making a decision for a few days or weeks until they had more time to consider the proposals.
"We can't be absolutely certain this will happen until after the Cabinet meeting," the source said.
If the plan gets the go-ahead, all 750 Department of Health staff will be briefed on Thursday, ahead of a series of nationwide meetings with health-board staff.
The pace of change, the source said, will be dictated by how quickly legislation can be put in place to change current structures.
While the source envisaged new "shadow structures" being in place by the end of the year, they pointed out that any healthcare reform, once agreed in principle, was likely to take five to 10 years.
An implementation team made up of six project groups will be responsible for spearheading the changes.
Among the project groups will be ones dealing with legislation, governance and structures and they will be representative of healthcare workers.
It is also envisaged that staff who are within seven years of retiring will be given the option of taking voluntary redundancy.
The changes, which include the replacing of health boards with four regional executive bodies which will have greater professional and consumer representation at the expense of local political representatives, are already meeting with resistance.
Members of the Western Health Board, meeting in Galway yesterday, criticised the plan.
Senator Margaret Cox (FF) said: "If we are going to have centralisation of health services, that will be the biggest mistake that could be made. I don't think board members have done such a bad job."
Swinford GP Dr Diarmuid McLoughlin said that only for the input of public representatives on the board, the people of Mayo would have nothing. Now they have three hospitals.
"If this is taken out of the hands of public representatives, God knows what the people of this area will get.
"If someone in Galway is going to be responsible for Letterkenny or Buncrana, the expenses involved don't bear thinking about," he said.
HEALTH REFORMS: What I want from them
Dr Eamonn Faller, GP, Galway
• Accountability at all levels - including financial and clinical accountability.
• Separation of the public and private health care systems - an end to private patients taking up beds in public hospitals.
• Proper investment in primary care.
Are you confident it will happen?
"I'm not optimistic about the possibility of change in the short-term. I don't envy Michéal Martin. His task is like steering the Titanic. The system is just a huge bureaucratic monstrosity at this stage."
Mr Alan O'Riordan, A&E nurse, Dublin
• One of the most things I want to see reformed is waiting times for hospital treatments, both in A&E and for those awaiting hospital admission.
• I would also like to see improvement in primary care structures - easier access to GPs out of hours and public health nurses so that people can remain out of hospital and in the community.
Are you confident it will happen?
"I'm not confident about the prosect of change. I think the reports may be good but I just don't see a lot of it implemented."
John Flanagan, Offaly councillor (FF) and member of Midland Health Board
• I want to see present structures changed. I've no qualms whatsoever about health boards being abolished or about politicians being dropped from the boards. I'd say their influence held back progress.
• The running of the health service should be given over to Department of Health officials.
• I hope employees in the service do not lose their jobs.
Are you confident change will happen?
"I hope it does. I'm very anxious to see change."