Management overhaul after worst hospital performance

AN OVERHAUL in the management of the worst performing hospital in the country is to take place.

This follows a meeting between Minister for Health James Reilly and regional director of operations for the HSE West area John Hennessy, where the continuing poor performance of University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) was discussed.

UCHG continues to feature bottom of the list in the HSE’s own Healthstat survey of the 29 acute hospitals evaluated where, over the past three months, it has appeared as the worst performing hospital in the country.

Now, arising from the meeting, the HSE is to overhaul the management of the Galway University Hospitals Group across four hospital sites: UCHG that includes University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park University Hospital, Roscommon County Hospital and Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe.

The new three-strong managerial group, headed by a chief executive with an annual salary of €145,959 is to oversee a yearly budget of €300 million in a group employing 4,500 people catering for a catchment area of one million people.

A spokesman for Mr Reilly said yesterday: “The Minister has been very concerned about the poor performance of UCHG, which has to be related to the gaps in management. The Minister is determined to have this addressed.”

The spokesman said Mr Reilly had discussed the issue at the highest levels of the HSE and with the regional director of operations (RDO) in the HSE West area. The spokesman said Mr Reilly gave sanction to the new appointments following the meeting with the RDO.

Along with the new chief executive position, the HSE has also advertised for the roles of chief financial officer and chief operating officer for the Galway University Hospitals Group and the aggregate salaries of the three posts range from €336,966 to €379,129 per annum.

The latest HSE Healthstat report on Galway recorded UCHG scoring a “red” in relation to its emergency department, absenteeism, finances and waiting times for elective medical and surgical procedures under its “red, amber and green” marking system.

The report found that more than 40 per cent of patients were waiting between 12 and 24 hours to be admitted through its emergency department during the month of February.

The advert for the post of chief executive said the successful candidate “will lead the delivery of better, integrated health service and improved social gain for the population”.

Chairman of the HSE West Forum, Cllr Padraig Conneely (FG), said yesterday: “It was inevitable that there would be changes in the management of UCHG. I welcome that the Minister has taken action. He has taken the bull by the horns. UCHG had become a major embarrassment to the Department of Health and has been consistently underperforming.”

Cllr Conneely said he had been in regular contact with Mr Reilly on the issue since he took office. “With these changes, I am now optimistic that the problems at UCHG can be addressed.”

The HSE West said it “believes that it is imperative that a strong management team is put in place to build on the skills and expertise of those already working within the hospitals”.

It continued: “The current economic challenges mean that it is more important than ever that the hospitals can operate at a maximum level of efficiency to deliver on the increasing demand for services within a limited pool of resources.”

Referring to the Healthstat results for UCHG, the HSE stated: “While the HealthStat measurements are disappointing, it is important to understand that there is a lot of good work and a very high volume of activity at UCHG.

“Further improvements are being sought not only within the efficiencies of the hospital itself but also through a number of nationally supported clinical programmes.”