A NEW senior executive to oversee the HSE’s childcare policies will have to be recruited from outside the State, Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews has said.
The so-called “children’s czar” will have powers similar to that which Prof Tom Keane had as the director of the National Cancer Control Programme. Mr Andrews said there was a need to bring in some outside expertise to improve the management in the HSE for child protection and welfare services in the future.
He had discussed the issue of a “children’s czar” with the HSE on Monday and it saw the move as being positive.
“I need somebody with a track record who has done this kind of work in a challenging area where there are clear deficits in this country,” Mr Andrews added. “That is the general terms of reference.
The new executive would have the task of implementing the recommendations of the PA Consulting report in relation to the management of the child-protection services in the HSE. It is due to be published this week, he added.
Its recommendations, which have been leaked by Fine Gael, call for a service model for child protection that focuses on outcomes for children.
The report says there is confusion and no consistency in how childcare cases are dealt with and the HSE structures need to be leaner, more transparent with clear lines of responsibility and accountability and line of sight from front-line services to senior management.
Mr Andrews said he wanted somebody who had the “capacity to do an X-ray of the service” at any time to provide information that was contemporaneous and to deploy the 200 new social workers that would be recruited this year to where they were most needed.
The Minister is due to meet the HSE board today to discuss issues in relation to the reporting of childcare cases.
