THE HEAD of the new agency established by the Government to produce plans for tackling waiting lists and problems in hospital emergency departments is to be paid €90,000 for his six-month contract.
The contract agreed between the Department of Health and Dr Martin Connor to head the new special delivery unit sets an overall price of €250,000 to cover all costs and expenses over the six-month period. The contract, which has been seen by The Irish Times, does not specify the amount involved which is to go to Dr Connor as a personal payment.
However the Department of Health said yesterday that €90,000 was to go in pay for his six-month contract and the remainder would be for expenses.
The contract shows that the Department of Health was to make an upfront payment of €60,000 to Dr Connor on signing the six-month contract to head up the new unit. The contract was signed at the beginning of June and will run until the end of November. A second payment of €90,000 was to be made at the end of the first month, under the terms of the contract.
“The third payment will be payable at the end of the third month and the fourth and final payment will be payable at the end of the sixth month. Each payment is subject to the Minister being satisfied that progress to date has been satisfactory. The final payment of €50,000 will be subject to the Minister being satisfied that the contract has been successfully completed,” the document states.
Under the contract, Dr Connor is to establish a “special delivery unit taskforce” for which staff would be provided or sourced by the Department of Health, including personnel seconded from the health system along with the necessary clinical, IT, operational and management skills.
“The contractor will prepare and implement a plan to ensure that patient experience in hospital emergency departments in the public health system (in terms of numbers and time spent waiting for admission/discharge) over the coming 12 months is demonstrably better than was the case in the previous 12 months.”