Give new HSE chief a seven-figure salary, says expert

THE person who replaces Prof Brendan Drumm as HSE chief executive when his five-year reign comes to an end this summer should be given a seven figure salary, a leading expert has claimed.

Donegal-born management specialist Gerry Robinson made the comment after insisting “millions” should be made available to entice the right candidate.

Despite Ireland’s economic turmoil and the HSE board’s insistence that the new head of the health service will receive a no-bonus salary of €228,000, the British-based official said Prof Drumm’s salary of approximately €320,000 should be more than trebled for the next incumbent.

The management guru first came to public attention when he fronted a three-part TV series called Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS in 2007.

The show focused on the need to use budgets effectively and to cut down on waste.

However, speaking to industry publication Journal of the Health Management Institute of Ireland, he said resources must be made available to convince the best candidate to take over from Prof Drumm in July.

“I think that the HSE needs to be able to pay the kind of salaries paid in the international field, and I’m talking about millions rather than hundreds of thousands.

“I realise the press would go bananas but so what. The whole furore would pale into insignificance very quickly if the result was that you got a chief executive who made the service work brilliantly,” he argued.

Since Prof Drumm was appointed to lead health service reform in summer 2005 he has received in excess of €1.7 million in salary, pension payments, bonuses and expenses.

This figure includes €112,500 in bonuses between 2006 and 2007 – a period when the health service was facing some of the worst crises since the HSE began.

Among his highest expenses have been:

* €5,834.70 for business class flights from Dublin to Toronto, New York and Los Angeles bought in 2006.

* €919.01 for a meal in Chapter One restaurant in Dublin for a “high-level ministerial delegation from Grenada” in relation to the development of cancer services in November 2006.

* Total expenses of €3,122.57 in 2005, €16,541.17 in 2006, €13,565.54 in 2007 and €7,650.36 in 2008.

Last May, the Irish Examiner revealed that the consultant paediatrician – who will step into a lucrative €284,000 a year post at UCD when his contract runs out this summer – received €512,000 in public funds last year.

It is understood that three individuals are in contention for the post after Health Minister Mary Harney’s preferred candidate, Prof Tom Keane, pulled out of the race in March.