HSE eliminates requirements for third-level qualification for senior hospital posts

The HSE has eliminated the mandatory third-level educational requirement for senior management positions in its new hospital groups.

The HSE has told staff it is seeking to recruit chief operations officers for two hospital groups, one in the Dublin/North East/RCSI hospital group and the other in the South/South West hospital group.

The two positions will be set at HSE assistant national director level, the salary scale for which runs from around €90,000 to more than €110,000.

The chief operations officers will be members of the executive management teams of the hospital groups and report to the chief executive officers.

The HSE has told staff that there had been “a revision to the eligibility criteria” for these posts. “A third-level qualification is now desirable, not mandatory.”

The competition for the chief operations officer posts in the two hospital groups is confined to staff of the HSE, other statutory health agencies, the Department of Health and bodies which provide services on behalf of the HSE under section 38 of the Health Act 2004.

The HSE was asked on a number of occasions last week for reasons why the mandatory educational requirements for these positions was being ended and whether it had experienced difficulties in finding suitable applicants for similar positions. However, the HSE did not answer any questions on the issue.

The HSE has had difficulties finding appropriate candidates for the position of chief executive officer, the most senior management positions in the new hospital groups around the country. These positions have a salary of over €130,000 per year. Acute hospitals Full-time appointments to these posts have not been made in a number of cases. The recently-appointed chief executive of the hospital group in the Dublin/North East region, Dr Tony O'Connell, was moved within a few weeks to become the HSE's overall head of acute hospitals.

Earlier this year Gerry O’Dwyer, the regional director for performance and integration at HSE South, was appointed as interim chief executive of the new group of 10 hospitals in the south and southwest.

There has been speculation that these posts may have to be readvertised. However it is understood that to date no formal approach has been made to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform about increasing the pay level.