No reason given as VHI boss resigns

VHI Healthcare chief executive, Jimmy Tolan, has resigned his position and is to leave the company later this year.

No reason was given for the resignation but Mr Tolan, who is required to give six months’ notice to VHI’s board of directors, said he intended to return to the private sector. A spokes- man for VHI said no severance package was to be paid.

Mr Tolan joined the VHI from banana importer Fyffes plc where he was also chief executive. He remains a non-executive director of that company.

He took up his position at the VHI on May 1, 2008 and was hired on a package worth €520,000-a-year, including a €148,512 bonus, a €74,256 pension contribution per annum.

Mr Tolan’s contract had a clause to allow this to be increased to €624,250 on the “strict condition” the State body met its target of becoming an authorised insurer with the Financial Regulator before January 1, 2009 — a target it failed to achieve.

Asked if a rift had developed between him and Mr Tolan over the future of the VHI, Health Minister Dr James Reilly said Mr Tolan may have had some “issues” with some of the proposals for the future of the VHI.

“I’d prefer to say that he might have had issues with some of the options under consideration and he has made his decision and I utterly respect that and again I want to place my gratitude to him on the record for the service he has rendered because I believe it has been considerable,” he said.

Dr Reilly was speaking to reporters at the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation in Kilkenny, where he said he was focused on implementing government policy on reforming the VHI.

“It’s well-known that I have commissioned through the department a review of the VHI and how it might best be handled in the future in terms of how it will fit in with our health insurance plans and Goodbody’s are undertaking that and they have all options open to them. So on that basis, I don’t want to say anymore other than to say I’m now focused on implementing government policy.”

Commenting on Mr Tolan’s resignation, chairman of VHI Healthcare, Bernard Collins, said Mr Tolan had been an “outstanding” chief executive, dedicated to improving its customers’ healthcare outcomes.

“It is with regret that the board of VHI Healthcare has accepted Jimmy’s resignation. He has been an outstanding CEO, focused on both improving VHI customers’ healthcare outcomes and also ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the organisation. He has overseen a number of innovations including the adoption of a comprehensive wellness strategy for the years ahead,” he said.