Health services return to local control

HEALTH services are to revert to local control in the next 18 months under a massive restructuring of the Health Service Executive.

All public hospitals and community services will be overseen by between six and 10 regional managers with authority to make decisions within budgets set by HSE headquarters.

The move comes less than four years after the HSE replaced 11 regional health boards which ran services at local level under budgets set by the Health Department.