In late 2011 the HSE identified an urgent need to put in place appropriate management arrangements for the Galway and Roscommon hospitals, in view of the need to address critical service difficulties that had been identified in the hospitals concerned. Serious problems of a long standing nature had been identified in managing scheduled and unscheduled care. Similar difficulties had arisen in the Midwestern Regional Hospitals (Limerick/Nenagh/Ennis) and an existing senior HSE manager was assigned to this post. Despite the best efforts of the HSE it had not been possible to attract senior managers with the requisite expertise to run the hospitals. For that reason individual senior managers were identified from within the system to take on new Group CEO roles for a period.
An individual was identified as the most appropriate person to take on the role of Chief Executive of the Galway/Roscommon hospital group, on a secondment basis for three years from his position as Chief Operations Officer of a major Dublin Hospital. Following a request by my Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform approved this secondment on a personal-to-holder basis. The remuneration package reflected the level at which the individual was being remunerated in respect of his duties in the public hospital and additional work undertaken separately for an associated private hospital.
This arrangement was approved as an exceptional matter and did not represent a change in overall public service pay policy.
