HSE chief yet to accept €300,000 post

THE Government-appointed head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) has not yet formally accepted the €300,000-plus job more than one month after the Tánaiste announced his selection.

Brendan Drumm, professor of paediatrics at University College Dublin (UCD) and consultant paediatrician at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, is still in

negotiations with the Department of Health, his spokesman said yesterday.

However, talks to finalise his contract are expected to conclude by the end of the week.

“Discussions are ongoing and are expected to be finalised very shortly,” the spokesman said.

Prof Drumm was first approached in February in relation to heading up the Government’s most ambitious health reform programme to date. The approach was made after the Government’s first choice, Prof Aidan Halligan, deputy chief medical officer at the British Department of Health and director of clinical governance for the NHS, backed away from the post last November.

The reason put forward at the time was that issues raised by his three teenage daughters were “insurmountable.” This was a considerable turnaround from his initial acceptance of the post last September when he remarked that it was “a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Prof Drumm was subsequently approached by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, recruitment agents on behalf of the HSE. He was offered the position of HSE chief executive on April 12, a post which attracts a salary in excess of €300,000. Talks to finalise his contract have been ongoing since.

A locum consultant paediatrician has been appointed to take over his clinical responsibilities at Our Lady’s Hospital in Dublin. His spokesman said yesterday that his position as head of paediatrics at UCD will be advertised “in due course.”

Prof Drumm will oversee the health service’s 96,000 staff, the single biggest employer in the State, and handle an annual budget of €10 billion.

Yesterday, the Tánaiste announced €10 million in capital funding for the Health Research Board. (HRB), the highest level of capital funding provided to the HRB in one year.

She made the announcement at the Clinician Scientists Awards, designed to tap the research potential in hospitals by giving consultants time out to carry out high-level research.

This year’s awards went to Dr Joseph Keane, St James’s Hospital, for research related to development of new treatment and vaccine strategies for tuberculosis, and Dr Mary Cannon, Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, for research related to early detection and prevention of schizophrenia.