The forum, which was suggested by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), would include all the key players in the health sector, including representatives of nurses, consultants and clerical staff, all of whom are in dispute with the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Ictu's president, Peter McLoone, and its general secretary, David Begg, raised the proposal with Harney and taoiseach Bertie Ahern in talks in recent weeks.

McLoone said the proposal was designed to bring all parties together to agree a strategy for tackling the health service's problems and to produce a deal on staff terms and conditions.

"Our view is you can't deal with a nurses' dispute in isolation from a dispute over the consultants' contracts and, separately, a dispute with administrative staff. The time has come to bring all of these things together and see if we can get a 'whole of health services' resolution to these problems, " he said.

Harney has also signalled her support for the proposal.

A spokeswoman for the minister said she "would support any such proposals as a means of addressing health reform issues throughout the health services".

McLoone said the proposal had the added benefit of relieving some of the burden on HSE management, which would free it to carry out its management functions more efficiently.

The forum would also consider patient care. "There's no point just solving the industrial disputes. We need an understanding of just what's needed to start to improve the issues of access and service delivery, " said McLoone.