Appointments at Sláintecare Programme Office expected shortly

Speaking to the Medical Independent (MI) on 19 November at the Health Management Institute of Ireland Annual Conference at the RDS, Dublin, Ms Magahy said recruitment of staff is underway.

The staff will be based in the Department of Health’s new headquarters on Lower Baggot Street, Dublin. Ms Magahy was appointed to her position in July.

“We will probably eventually have up to 15 staff and we are at the moment going through different recruitment processes. We did a call-out to the wider civil service, so we are working through that,” Ms Magahy said.

Ms Magahy said she hoped there would be “people joining me before Christmas. Then we will be doing wider efforts and advertising in the next couple of months.”

The Government published the Sláintecare Implementation Strategy in August and, in October, the 23-member Sláintecare Advisory Council met for the first time.

MI asked Ms Magahy about the manner in which she expects the Programme Office to work with the Council.

“I expect it will work fantastic. We had our first [Council] meeting; it went really well. I think they are going to be a really good source of advice to the Programme [Office] because they come from a lot of different backgrounds,” she commented. 

“They have a lot of implementation experience and expertise and they are coming from different perspectives as well. I think they are going to be a really brilliant source of advice over the years.”