THE CHIEF executive of Tallaght hospital has resigned just seven months after taking up the post.
A statement released last night by the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Tallaght confirmed that the “CEO designate”, Prof Kevin Conlon, an expert in pancreatic cancer, had resigned his position.
It said that, due to his nomination by the American Society of Clinical Oncology to act as chair in hepatobiliary pancreas and small bowel cancer and his ongoing roles as the secretary general of the European Hepatobiliary-Pacreatico-Biliary Association and president-elect of the Pancreas Society of Great Britain and Ireland, he did not have time to fulfil the role of chief executive.
Prof Conlon considered that the time commitment involved in all of these roles would have made it extremely difficult to also dedicate himself to the busy role of managing a major hospital, said chairman of the hospital board Lyndon McCann.
Prof Conlon will return to medical practice, resuming his role as medical director at the hospital.
The hospital was at the centre of a controversy this year after it emerged that almost 58,000 X-rays had not been reported by consultant radiologists there between 2005 and 2009.
An inquiry into the delayed reporting of X-rays and delayed opening of GP referral letters at the hospital is set to report shortly.