HSE chief: 'I don’t feel I have left anything behind me. I don’t believe I left anybody down'

Paul Reid reflected on his tenure as HSE CEO during his address to the Enhanced Community Care Conference in Dublin Castle on Thursday. Picture: Leon Farrell/Photocall

The outgoing head of the HSE, Paul Reid, has insisted he has given everything he can to the health services and believes his decision to resign is not letting anyone down.

“I’ve given everything I possibly can, I don’t believe [my] loyalty could be challenged,” he said.

“People have to make personal assessments on their career at all different stages, and that’s exactly where I am now. So I don’t feel I have left anything behind me. I don’t believe I left anybody down.”

Mr Reid’s active time at the helm of the HSE comes to an end on October 3 when he takes accrued annual leave to run down his tenure. 

He had a five-year contract which began in May 2019 but recently announced he was resigning following two and half years of pandemic challenges.

He said recruiting his replacement is expected to involve an international element, and could take at least six months. He said: 

I’m very loyal to the health service, I’ve been very loyal to any career I had in the past.

“I’ve no pending announcements, I’ve nothing planned, other than definitely committing to time with family for the next while.”

However, he added he is not retiring, saying: “I’m 58, there’s plenty more to do. But, straight up, nothing in the pipeline, no surprises, nothing hidden under the belt. I’m just going to take time.”

Speaking during a conference on the expansion of community care services, Mr Reid said this is central to tackling delays for patients.

“That’s the radical shift we need, to take those services out of hospitals,” he said, referring to scans and diagnostics which patients can now access through GPs.

The cultural shift we have to make [is] getting the acute hospital systems and community services to work together. 

"Acute hospitals would say if we are investing here, we are not investing there.”

The HSE chief also said this winter is expected to be another challenging one.

“Our concern as we head into the winter is the obvious, that we will have a dual hit both in terms of flu — we’re concerned at what we’re seeing in the southern hemisphere — and also Covid,” he said.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation this week said a new record for overcrowding at this time of the year was set last month. This in turn impacts on waiting lists for non-urgent care, now standing at around 907,000.

“We are holding, I would say,” he said referring to the lists. 

“GI scopes [gastrointestinal endoscopies] are reducing, inpatients holding, outpatients have grown, probably just about at best holding. We would be concerned about it as we head into the winter.”

A €350m action plan, published in February, estimated an 18% reduction in waiting lists by year’s end.

“We are not at that at all yet,” he said. “At best, we are holding our own. There’s significant progress across a range of the services, and across certain hospitals. I can’t forecast right now if we will be at 18%.”