Barry O'Brien, HSE
By Gary Culliton.
The HSE now intends to conduct open interviews to fill Clinical Director posts across the health system.
Clinical Directors were initially introduced and appointed by way of nomination and agreement among the consultant body, however that initial term is now up.
There are some outstanding posts still to be filled, yet no defined number of Clinical Directors has been agreed. According to documentation furnished to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the allowance for such a post was paid to 59 individual Clinical Directors in 2011 at a rate of €46,000 per annum and at a total cost to the HSE of €2.53 million.
Clinical Directors exist at the major acute hospital sites and in Clinical Programmes. The HSE regards their role as being “so critical that it would advise that postholders should take on the role on a full-time basis,” HSE National Director of Human Resources Barry O’Brien said.
The Government is planning a major hospital reconfiguration by way of hospital groupings and subsequently Trusts. HSE Director General-designate Tony O’Brien told the PAC on November 8 that clinical directors were a critical component of achieving better value and efficiency in our hospitals: “They are also a critical part of the way hospitals are being reformed.”
In recent discussions with consultants under the Croke Park agreement and the Labour Relations Commission, the HSE has further endorsed and enhanced the role of the clinical director as being the senior manager for all clinicians.
As part of negotiations on the 2008 contract, the HSE sought to bring clinical leadership to the fore in the planning and delivery of all health services, particularly in acute hospitals.
It was also agreed that clinical directors would be put in place with a view to providing direct clinical leadership for the body of consultants — a significant change from the previous contract.
gary.culliton@imt.ie