IHCA Secretary General Martin Varley
By Gary Culliton.
The support that clinical directors require has not been delivered to the extent intended in the consultant contract, IHCA Secretary General Martin Varley has said.
With new clinical director appointments due to be made within months, HSE documents make it clear there is going to be a wider range of staff reporting to the clinical directors than was previously envisaged.
There is a proposal whereby clinical directors would have responsibility for budgets. However, new HSE documentation on clinical directors is “unclear” on a number of things, according to Varley. “It differs from that of the contract,” he said. “We need a discussion to clarify what is intended by some elements of that.”
The intention is that the Clinical Director role should be at a senior, leadership level, said Varley. “Good progress had been made in that respect, but more is needed.
“If the brief of Clinical Directors is going to be expanded, we are going to need clarity of that,” he said at the Association’s Annual Conference in Waterford. “It is important we have the proper resource provided, be that managerial support, secretarial support or locum cover. There is a lack of clarity on this.”
It is very important the clinical directors are appointed in keeping with what is intended in the contract, the Secretary General added. “The clinical directors must reflect the local needs of the hospital setting.
“There are four hospitals in the Mid-West region, for example. The proposal from the Medical Board is that there should be four clinical directors dealing with particular specialty areas. There has not been confirmation from the management side on this.
“One of those four would act as the liaison person with senior management. That gives a very strong clinical director structure and allows the clinical directors to address the issues in depth and to work with management. It reflects the needs of the hospital setting. We would be supporting that the proposal from the management board should be accepted, so you have strong clinical leadership.”
gary.culliton@imt.ie