Almost 20,000 Covid cases reported over weekend as prominent HSE official to take role with Vhi
Chief Operations Officer Anne O'Connor, who was a prominent figure in the country's fight against Covid-19 will leave the HSE in June to become Managing Director of Vhi Health and Wellbeing. Picture: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland
A senior official in the HSE is the leave the health service to join Vhi.
Chief Operations Officer Anne O'Connor, who was a prominent figure in the country's fight against Covid-19, will leave the HSE in June to become Managing Director of Vhi Health and Wellbeing.
The news comes as almost 20,000 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded over the weekend.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) confirmed that from Saturday to Monday, there have been 19,489 new cases of the virus in Ireland.
Monday saw 3,164 PCR-confirmed cases, while on Sunday, 3,354 people registered a positive antigen test through the HSE portal.
On Saturday, the HPSC was notified of 3,750 PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19. 4,045 people registered a positive antigen test through the HSE portal the previous day.
Sunday saw 2,313 PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19 while 2,863 people registered a positive antigen test through the HSE portal the previous day.
Ms O'Connor became COO in 2018 and as well as being a key figure in the response to Covid, she also a key figure in managing the health service response to the cyber-attack on the HSE in May 2021.
The head of the HSE has praised Ms O'Connor for her work with the health service.
“Anne has made an extraordinary contribution to the health service during her time with us. She has not only led the operations of the health service through a period of great challenge and pressure, but she has done so while retaining an unwavering commitment to high quality and continuous improvement.
“She has been a great colleague, and is highly respected and admired throughout the health service. I am very glad that she will be continuing to contribute to healthcare services in Ireland in a very senior role and on behalf of the HSE I want to wish her very well in her new position.”
Ms O'Connor's role as COO saw her lead more than 100,000 staff providing health and social services in community and acute hospital settings in Ireland.
She has work Irish health service since 1995 and in 2014 she became National Director for Mental Health. In 2018, Ms O'Connor became National Director of Community Operations responsible for all community-based health and social care services.
Declan Moran the Chief Executive of the Vhi Group said they are "delighted" that Ms O'Connor is joining them.
"Anne will work in tandem with the Vhi Leadership team to ensure that we continue to deliver on our mission of helping our customers live longer, stronger, healthier lives.
"Her clinical background and extensive management experience as well as her in-depth understanding of the Irish Healthcare System and of integrated health service delivery will be invaluable to Vhi as we execute our strategy in the years ahead.”
