Harney ‘satisfied’ with HSE managers’ pay deal
She was commenting on the decision by the HSE’s hospital chief Pat McLoughlin to leave his job after claiming that the Department of Finance refused to give him a pensions top-up that he said formed part of his contract.
While Ms Harney said she was sorry to lose someone of the calibre of Mr McLoughlin, she was “absolutely satisfied” that an appropriate remuneration had been provided for senior HSE management and did not want to get involved in any further discussion on the matter.
The Department of Finance was not making any comment on the issue.
A department spokesperson said it was a “personal matter” for Mr McLoughlin.
It is understood to be highly unlikely that Mr McLoughlin can be persuaded to remain in his position.
He is convinced it would be uneconomic in pension terms for him to stay on in his job.
Labour health spokes- woman Liz McManus said Mr McLoughlin’s resignation from his position as director of the HSE’s National Hospitals Office, announced on Thursday night, was a further serious blow to the credibility of the HSE.
Ms McManus said it was remarkable that a Government that had presided over the huge waste of money involved in the PPARS (the human resource information system of the Irish health service) scandal would try to make savings at the expense of Mr McLoughlin.
“Patients are paying a price for Mary Harney’s hastily-drafted legislation and rushed establishment of the HSE,” she said.
She pointed out that Mr McLoughlin was one of the most respected senior officials working in the health service and was very highly thought of among health professionals all over the country.
Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) general secretary Liam Doran said Thursday was not a good day for the HSE and believed it would be extremely difficult to replace Mr McLoughlin.
Mr McLoughlin has stressed that his departure had nothing to do with policy differences with the head of the HSE Professor Brendan Drumm, or the appointment of a team of outside advisers to the organisation.
Mr McLoughlin, who previously held the post of chief executive of the South Eastern Health Board and the Eastern Health Board, will continue in his current position until the end of January 2006.
Prof Drumm said he was disappointed that Mr McLoughlin had decided to leave the HSE and went on to refer to the outstanding contribution he had made to the development of the national health authority.
“Mr McLoughlin brought his enormous depth of experience and knowledge of the health sector to the post and has been instrumental in introducing a number of important strategic initiatives,” he said.
The HSE is now seeking to fill the post being vacated by Mr McLoughlin at the end of January to facilitate a smooth transition with his successor.
* IN November 2004 Professor Aidan Halligan, deputy chief medical officer of the Department of Health in Britain and director of clinical governance of the National Health Service, decided “for personal and family reasons” not to take up the post of chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE).
* HSE executive chairman Kevin Kelly remained in charge when the HSE assumed responsibility for day-to-day running of the health service on January 1, 2005.
* Six months later, a visibly perturbed Prof Brendan Drumm announced that he had been offered the job as chief executive but could not take it.
More than two weeks later, he said the HSE had persuaded him to change his mind and accept the highest paid job in the public sector with a salary of €400,000 a year.
* On Thursday night Pat McLoughlin, the HSE’s deputy chief executive, said he would be leaving his post at the end of January because he claimed the Department of Finance had refused to honour the terms of his contract almost a year after he took up the post.
