HSE appoints directors internally

THREE of the four new regional directors for the revamped HSE have already been selected for the highly coveted posts – all of whom are already existing health service officials.

The Irish Examiner has learned that Pat Healy, Gerry O’Dwyer and Stephen Mulvaney have all received contracts for the one-year €120,000 positions after a short recruitment process.

It is understood that the officials were selected for the high-profile roles – which involve complete control over the budgets and services in each HSE region – after they were placed on a six-person shortlist.

Mr Healy, who is assistant national director for primary, community and continuing care will take over as regional director of the HSE South next year, where he is based.

His colleague in the region, network manager for the southern hospitals group Gerry O’Dwyer, will become regional director of the HSE Dublin-Mid Leinster area.

HSE Dublin-North East network manager Stephen Mulvaney will take over as the area’s regional director during the same period, while three more candidates are competing for the final position in the HSE West.

While none of the candidates were available for comment last night, well-placed sources confirmed that the individuals have received contracts of employment and are likely to confirm their new roles next week.

The three known appointments come after the HSE’s national director of Primary, Community and Continuing Care (PCCC), Laverne McGuinness, said earlier this month that the recruitment process would be open to candidates outside the system.

To date, responsibility in the health service has been spread between a number of executives, with no one person accountable for all services in the region.

However, as part of the new regional division HSE plan, the regional directors face losing control of their budget to central management if they fail to meet set targets.

“They [the contracts] will be binding and if regional teams fail to meet their targets they could have some elements of their financial authority withdrawn,” Ms McGuinness said.

“If the corrective measures do not address the risks, a range of additional measures may be introduced which could involve reducing expenditure limits, central management of a region’s budget or ultimately the removal of financial authority in certain areas for a defined period,” she added.