The two most senior officials of Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) have resigned from their posts.
The role of CHI chief executive was vacant from last November after Eilish Hardiman went on medical leave. In January Fiona Murphy was appointed as acting chief executive and staff were told in April that Ms Hardiman had been reassigned to a new role of strategic programme director.
Earlier this year, the board began a recruitment process to fill the chief executive role on a permanent basis. The HSE has said an announcement on this appointment is imminent.
In a memo to staff on Monday morning, Dr Jim Browne, chairman of the board for CHI, announced Ms Murphy’s resignation, stating it would be effective from February 2025. It is understood Ms Murphy resigned due to a job opportunity in the private sector.
Subsidiary of main National Children’s Hospital contractor to secure major State building project
BAM begins High Court proceedings against board of national children’s hospital
Pipeline of new hospital development projects not sufficiently strong, Varadkar says
Lucy Nugent has been appointed new chief executive of Children’s Health Ireland
“On my own behalf and on behalf of the board, I would like to convey my sincere thanks and appreciation to Ms Murphy for her tremendous leadership over the past year or so,” Mr Browne’s memo said.
“Fiona has done and continues to do an incredible job in challenging circumstances. I am sure you will all join me in wishing her every success in her new role.”
Mr Browne said he would like to assure staff that the board “expects to appoint a new CEO imminently. I will be writing to you regarding this in the very near future.”
Separately, Stephen Flanagan, interim deputy chief executive and chief financial officer of CHI, has also resigned from his post, with his last day of work being this Wednesday.
Mr Flanagan has been chief financial officer since 2019, having previously been financial director at CHI Crumlin and financial controller at St James’s Hospital in Dublin.
The senior resignations come at a critical time for CHI, which is preparing for the completion of the new national children’s hospital next year.
A project beset by cost overruns and delays, Bam, the main contractor, has indicated the substantial completion date for the hospital will be June 2025. A further six months of “fit out” by CHI will then be required, before it can open to patients.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly recently criticised the board of CHI for the delay in appointing a new chief executive.
Ms Hardiman was appointed, following two terms as chief executive, to another senior role in CHI which is responsible for running the hospital services for children. Mr Donnelly had maintained that it would be against Government policy to appoint a person for longer than 10 years as a chief executive in a State body.
In a letter to the Minister at the time, Mr Browne said appointing a new chief executive who was unfamiliar with the project would “introduce additional risks which will be extremely difficult to mitigate and manage”.
A KPMG report on the operational readiness for CHI to move into the new national children’s hospital previously highlighted issues within the hospital group, including the lack of permanent senior management members.
Jennifer Whitmore, the Social Democrat’s spokeswoman for children, said she was “deeply concerned” by the resignation, and raised concerns it could further delay the opening of the hospital.
“This comes at a critical phase of the development of the national children’s hospital project, which has been beset by unacceptably long delays and scandalous cost overruns,” she said.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
