Hospital consultants are to seek a meeting with Health Minister James Reilly on the logistics of his new plan to reorganise hospitals into six groups.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) says it wants to meet the Minister and the HSE on the organisational arrangements and the resourcing of the plans for hospitals.

The key issue, the iHCA said, is how resources and personnel are to be configured, allowing for the better delivery of healthcare to to patients in 'a very difficult health environment'.

Under the plan hospitals in each group will share services and staffing between them, meaning some staff will have to relocate part of their roles to other hospitals.

Meanwhile, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) welcomed the hospital revamp plan.

RCPI President Dr John Crowe said this was a significant milestone on the path towards better healthcare in Ireland.

"We fully support Hospital Groups as they will have the autonomy and authority to make decisions to improve patient care. This is a unique opportunity to address problems in service provision, quality and staffing that have arisen over time. These Groups will lead to improvements in quality of care for patients and they will make hospitals a better place to work for staff."

He said the challenge now was to ensure that these groups were actually implemented and that their benefits were realised for patients and staff.

"Patients must be assured of easier access to services and better coordination between primary, acute and community services," Dr Crowe said.

Most hospitals have welcomed Dr Reilly's reorganisation plan, which was announced yesterday.

Major shake-up of hospital system