New health chief on Tuesday

THE Government is expected to appoint the new secretary general of the Department of Health next Tuesday, following the cancellation of today’s Cabinet meeting in Cork.

The successor to Michael Kelly as administrative head of the department will be chosen by Cabinet from a short-list of three candidates. Mr Kelly resigned his position after he was criticised in the Travers’ Report inquiring into nursing home charges.

According to Medicine Weekly magazine, five candidates remain in contention for the key position at Hawkins House, a number that will be reduced to three by the time the Cabinet considers the appointment at its weekly meeting next Tuesday.

All five are senior civil servants, only one of whom is currently working in the Department of Health.

They are: Paul Barron (Health); Michael Scanlon and Kieran Connolly (Finance); Tom O’Mahoney (Environment); and Niamh O’Donoghue (Revenue Commissioners). Mr O’Mahoney and Ms O’Donoghue both previously worked in Health.

It is also expected that the board of the Health Services Executive (HSE) will complete the process of appointing its chief executive early next week.

Medicine Weekly reports that four candidates remain in the running.

They are: Dr Cillian Twomey, Cork consultant and former chairman of Comhairle na nOispidéal; Prof Hugh Brady, UCD president; Prof Brendan Drumm, gastroenterologist at Crumlin Hospital; and Dr Gabriel Scally, a public health specialist originally from the North, who is currently working in the UK.

Dr Scally, who co-authored a landmark paper on clinical governance in the NHS with Sir Liam Donaldson, chief medical officer for England and Wales, is said to be the favourite.