Ireland

Chiefs of health boards to meet new executive

The chief executives of the State's 11 recently abolished health boards will attend the first of a series of meetings today with…

Wed Jan 05 2005 - 00:00

The chief executives of the State's 11 recently abolished health boards will attend the first of a series of meetings today with officials of the new Health Service Executive (HSE) at its headquarters in Naas.

The health service is slowly being strangled by an expensive and expanding bureaucracy
Mr Liam Twomey, Fine Gael spokesman on health

There will be discussions on how health services should be managed over the next six months as arrangements are put in place for the HSE to assume total responsibility for the running of the health service.

The HSE was due to take over completely on January 1st, but health board chief executives were then asked to manage services in their own regions for another six months.

The trade union Impact suspended its industrial action in the health service on December 23 rdafter it negotiated what it said were "firm safeguards" on the futures of 25,000 workers.
Impact had instigated a campaign of non-cooperation with the proposed health service changes, including the establishment of the HSE.
The key issues agreed following lengthy talks included job security, work location, contractual terms, employment conditions, pensions, and roles and responsibilities.
The also gives a guarantee of third-party mediation if problems arise as the new system is rolled out in 2005 and 2006.
It has emerged that the 'safeguards' negotiated by Impact include guarantees to workers that their work conditions or job titles will not change and that they will not be forced to relocate to a new job or geographic area.  This aspect of the agreement has been strongly criticised by the Opposition.

Fine Gael's health spokesman, Mr Liam Twomey, has said the deal struck with health managers allowing them to maintain their conditions confirms the health service is "slowly being strangled by an expensive and expanding bureaucracy".

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He added that the Government was "completely losing control" of the reform agenda because it never had a clear idea of where that agenda should go.