HSE ‘pauses’ advertised contact tracing post following staff concerns

Irish Medical Organisation formally requested the health service to withdraw the advertisements 'without delay'. Picture: Brian Arthur

The HSE has withdrawn a recently advertised national public health post following concerns over how the role fitted within existing regional governance and management structures.

The post for clinical lead in the HSE contact tracing management programme (CMP), which may involve two appointments, was removed in recent weeks after the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) intervened on behalf of public health doctors.

Correspondence seen by the Irish Examiner shows that regional public health directors harboured concerns that the post was being developed on foot of the 2018 Crowe Horwath review of public health roles and represented “reform by stealth” and was “ill-timed and inflammatory”.

The post, they said, should be put on hold until a risk assessment was carried out on creating a new position outside existing structures.

“There is a huge risk to quality and safety as the other parts of the [Covid] response have not been invested in,” the senior public health staff said.

They also questioned why the contact tracing post was being created as it was not a stand-alone function. 

The development of one single, albeit important, component of the public health response to a pandemic, contact tracing, at the expense of other important parts is a flawed strategy”.

The IMO, which has declined to comment on the wrangle, formally requested the health service to withdraw the advertisements “without delay”.

In a letter to the HSE, the IMO said the post had not been agreed with it as the relevant union for public health doctors and was “outside” existing regional clinical governance and managerial structures.

Public health doctors would not co-operate on any reforms on foot of the Crowe Horwath review while outstanding issues had yet to be agreed, the IMO said. 

“Any structural change to public health medicine must be by agreement with the IMO and will only be done when there is agreement on all aspects of Crowe Horwath including the awarding of consultant status to SPHMs [specialists in public health medicine] and DPHs [directors of public health]”.

The spat reflects the low staff morale among public health doctors, who have yet to be granted consultant status, despite working at the coalface of Covid-19 for the past year.

The HSE confirmed the recruitment process for the contact tracing post was “paused” but declined to say if it was because of concerns over management and governance structures.

“The recruitment process for a clinical lead in the HSE Contact Tracing Management Programme was temporarily paused subject to discussion on the need for two clinical lead roles, as this is a 12/7 service. Following further consideration, this position will be re-advertised shortly,” a HSE spokesperson said.