New chief executive of health service likely to be an outsider

Job shortlist: The new chief executive of the powerful new Health Service Executive (HSE), which will run Irish health services…

Job shortlist: The new chief executive of the powerful new Health Service Executive (HSE), which will run Irish health services from next year, will be an outside candidate, Irish health administrators believe.

A wide trawl for applicants has produced a field of up to 50 mainly external candidates including a number from Canada.

The successful applicant will have a unique State-wide responsibility for delivery of health services.

Following screening interviews by management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a sub-committee of the HSE board will begin interviewing shortlisted candidates later this week.

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PwC has made it clear in its advertisements that the job is open to candidates who have not worked in the health sector.

The name of Barry McSweeney, director general of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, has emerged as a possible front-runner. A biochemist from Cork, he has worked for the Commission since 1995.

He has not responded to a query about his candidacy.

Shortlisted Irish candidates are believed to include Pat McLoughlin, chief executive of the South Eastern Health Board, and Pat Gaughan, chief executive of the Midland Health Board.

Michael Lyons, chief executive of the ERHA, has made no secret of the fact that he is not applying.

While no salary has been advertised for the job, the Department of Finance may be open to agreeing to more than €300,000 with a 25 per cent bonus - the top rate for a chief executive of a commercial State body.

In a memo seen by The Irish Times, assistant secretary Ciaran Connolly suggested to second secretary general David Doyle earlier this year that "for an initial appointment", particularly if the intention is to go after an internationally experienced 'top gun', the chief executive's pay might be such a "special rate" but for a fixed-term contract with "a heavy weighting in favour of performance-related elements, including a final multi-annual delivery-based element".

Mr Connolly suggested: "The long-term rate for the job" should be somewhere in the secretary-general range of €160,000 to €208,000 with a bonus of up to 20 per cent. He argued "the CEO's pay should not drag up the next tiers of management after it: public service norms should continue to apply in their case" although the head of the National Hospitals Office and "possibly the odd other post" might be an exception.

Expectation within Irish administrative circles of an external appointment is partly based on the views of interim HSE board member Prof Niamh Brennan.

Prof Brennan stated her disbelief last year that health board chief executives and Department of Health officials had the skills to bring about the change required in the health service. "We need outsiders with no conflict of interest to implement change."

The chief executive appointment is "the most important decision the interim board will take", according to its executive chairman, Kevin Kelly.

Speaking to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health in April, Mr Kelly said the values of the chief executive and senior management team "and how they perceive the service will be critical".

The soon to be appointed HSE chief executive will have an individual responsibility for the delivery of health and social services which is unique in the history of the State.

In the command and control centralised system of health administration which the Government has adopted, the buck will stop with the chief executive.

While the extent of the Minister's responsibility for decision-making has yet to be delineated in legislation empowering the HSE, it would appear that its chief executive will be the responsible officer for the delivery of services.

PwC said in its advertisements that the person appointed would need "outstanding leadership qualities combined with the vision, energy and commitment to be a key influencer of change in the health system".

"He/she will ideally be familiar with the sector itself but, in any event, must demonstrate the ability to operate effectively at the policy, strategic and operational levels," the advert stated.

The candidate must have "an empathy with the HSE charter to deliver ever improving standards of patient care and general consumer service, consistent with promoting a culture of cost-effectiveness within a service ethic".