Hospitals in the West of Ireland and Midlands are to be place under a single management structure. The Minster for Health, Dr James Reilly, announced that new management arrangements are to be put in place for two groups of hospitals in the west and mid west.
Galway University Hospital, which incorporates Merlin Park Hospital, together with Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe and Roscommon General Hospital are to be placed within a single management structure led by a single CEO who will be responsible for group performance. The hospital group will have a single clinical governance model, one budget and one employment ceiling.
The Mid Western Regional Hospitals at Limerick, Ennis, and Nenagh, together with the Orthopaedic Hospital at Croom and the funding arrangements for St John's Hospital Limerick are to be placed within a single management structure led by a single CEO who will be responsible for group performance. The hospital group will have a single clinical governance model, one budget and one employment ceiling.
The HSE described all of these hospitals as facing “significant challenges to overcome in terms of service delivery and financial performance”.
Mr Bill Maher, currently Acting CEO of St Vincent’s University Hospital, has been appointed CEO of the Galway/Roscommon Hospital Group with effect from 9 January 2012, on secondment. Ms Ann Doherty, former head of the National Hospitals Office, has been appointed CEO of the Mid Western Hospitals Group. Ms Doherty will transfer to this role from the National Cancer Control Programme in early January.
Minister Reilly he was pleased that the Special Delivery Unit and the HSE had “worked together to develop an appropriate solution to the challenge of putting in place effective new leadership arrangements for these two important groups of hospitals”.
“This is good news for the communities served by all these hospitals. It will ensure a better health service in the West and Mid West and assure the future of small hospitals in both regions. The new CEOs will take forward their important new roles on the basis of parity of esteem for the hospitals and teams within their hospital groups,” he added
It has also been decided to establish a supervisory group of five individuals with expertise in different aspects of hospital management who will provide support, on a part-time basis, to the CEOs.