MINISTER FOR Health James Reilly is to replace a number of existing members of the board of the Health Service Executive (HSE) within the next few weeks.
Speaking after a 90-minute meeting with the board yesterday, the Minister said he wanted to make changes to its membership.
Dr Reilly said he planned to make these changes within a month.
However, he maintained that the planned changes were due to commitments made in the programme for government and did not represent any reflection on existing board members.
“We are about to have radical reform of our health service and as part of that, there are going to be reforms and changes of the board to reflect that,” he said.
Asked last night about the Minister’s plans for changes, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said “some people would be replaced”.
Dr Reilly said he and the HSE board were “singing off the same hymn sheet” with regard to the type of reforms identified.
He said that these included management and organisational difficulties.
“We know the destination we want to reach, which is universal health insurance with free GP care, free access at the point of delivery, with equity of access for every man, woman and child in this country and I think everyone has bought into that.
“How we get there is the issue and I think the HSE, both management and all those who work in it, will have the opportunity to contribute to that,” the Minister added.
Under current legislation, the board of the HSE is appointed by and reports to the Minister for Health. Members of the board do not appear before Oireachtas committees in relation to their decisions or actions.
The board is responsible for overseeing the implementation of health services by HSE management as agreed with the Government in its annual service plan for how its €14 billion budget is spent.
There are 12 members on the board of the HSE, which has been chaired by businessman Frank Dolphin since last summer.
Other board members are Pat Farrell, chief executive of the Irish Banking Federation; Eugene McCague, the chairman of solicitors Arthur Cox; Joe Mooney, a retired senior official of the Department of Finance; and Dr P Anne Scott, professor of nursing and deputy president of Dublin City University.
Also on the board are Niamh Brennan, professor of management at University College Dublin; Dr Dermot Power, consultant in geriatric medicine at the Mater hospital; Sylda Langford, former director general of the Office of the Minister for Children; Joe Lavelle, manager with Deloitte; John Fitzgerald, former Dublin city manager; and Nuala Hunt, chartered accountant and tax consultant.
All of the current HSE board members were appointed by former minister for health Mary Harney.
Some members of the HSE board have been in place since the the health authority was first established in 2005.
Meanwhile, Dr Reilly yesterday also promised action to tackle the controversial issue of overcrowding in hospital emergency departments.
In January, record numbers of patients requiring admission to a hospital bed were on trolleys in emergency departments around the country.
“This is my promise to the Irish people,” Dr Reilly said. “You will not see again 569 people on trolleys in hospitals.”