The names of the chairman and members of the board of the new Health Service Executive (HSE), which will take over day-to-day management of the health service from the Department of Health under the Government's health service reform programme, are due to be announced today.
The announcement is expected in advance of the appearance before a Dáil committee tomorrow of Prof Niamh Brennan, the UCD-based economist whose report on financial management in the health service called for the establishment of the HSE.
Prof Brennan has criticised the Government several times since her report was published in June for failing to swiftly appoint members to the board of the HSE to ensure no time was wasted in beginning the reform process.
The report by the taskforce she chaired found there was a management vacuum at the heart of the health service that should urgently be addressed. It believed the HSE could fill this vacuum and leave the Department of Health to focus on health policy.
The Brennan report recommended the HSE board should have no more than 12 members, including a chairperson from outside the health sector.