Health board CEOs backed the HSE because they realised the old system could not work nationally

I FOUND Catherine Shanahan’s articles on the HSE extremely balanced and informative (June 10-12).

However, as the former CEO of the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA), one of the agencies assumed into the HSE on its establishment on January 1, 2005, I take issue with her statement (June 11) implying the former health board CEOs were resistant to the changeover from the health board system to the HSE.

In fact, the former CEOs were fully supportive of the introduction of the HSE and participated fully in the change process from its commencement in mid-2003 to mid-2005 when we exited the service.