Deal ends HSE crisis as Drumm takes up top post

THE leadership crisis that has plagued the Government’s health reform programme ended last night with the decision by Professor Brendan Drumm to head up the Health Service Executive (HSE).

His acceptance of the highest-paid job in the public sector comes just two weeks after he walked away from the position of chief executive of the HSE because neither it nor the Department of Health could guarantee his return to an academic consultancy post on completion of his term.

Last night, a spokesperson for consultant paediatrician Prof Drumm said he had changed his mind because his long-term future, when his possible eight-year stint with the HSE expires, had been assured.