Mid-West hospitals move toward NHS-style trust

Six hospitals in the Mid-West have entered a single management regime in which both doctors and HSE officials will play lead roles.

The grouping of the hospitals — the Mid-West Regional, Regional Maternity, Croom Orthopaedic, Nenagh General, Ennis General at St John’s — moves them one step further down the road towards the establishment of a hospital trust.

The NHS-style trusts are part of Health Minister James Reilly’s plans for reform of the health service. The administrative groups will have a single budget, governance model, and a staff ceiling as part of plans to cut costs, high-level administration, and patient waiting times. Such a group already operates in Galway.

The latest developments in the Mid-West are, according to the HSE, aimed at “eliminating traditional divides between doctors and managers”.

“Four new clinical directorates will operate in one hospital system across the six sites in Limerick, Clare, and North Tipperary. Instead of being responsible for all the services on one site, a directorate manager will take charge of delivery of one branch of medicine, eg diagnostics across six sites,” said a HSE spokesperson.

The lead clinical director is Professor Pierce Grace, a Kilkenny-born vascular surgeon involved with the graduate entry medical school at the University of Limerick.

The clinical directors include Dr John Kennedy, Dr Con Cronin, Dr Bryan Kenny, and Dr Roy K Philip.

The four HSE officials are managers Frank Keane, maternal and child health; Paula Cussen Murphy, medicine; John Doyle, peri-operative; Mary Donnellan O’Brien, diagnostics.

A chief operations officer/deputy CEO post is at the recruitment phase.

A board will be appointed on a non statutory basis pending new legislation.