HSE BOSS: NAVAN RISKS A FACTOR IN QUITTING ROLE
Reid leaving top job with 18 months to go
HSE chief Paul Reid has admitted his resignation was partly due to frustrations about the Government’s moves for Navan hospital’s emergency unit.
The Health Service Executive’s most senior figure quits the role in nine days’ time with 18 months still to go on his contract.
Yesterday he fired a parting shot by revealing his concerns that there remains a “very clear patient safety risk” at Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan, Co Meath.
His surprise resignation in June from the top job, which had a salary of over €400,000 last year, takes effect on October 3 just three and a half years into a five-year contract.
Mr Reid explicitly referenced in his resignation letter the frustrations and constraints of the job, specifically about the
HSE’S ability to deliver change.
He told RTE Radio One yesterday: “Related to Navan, yes,– there were frustrations. I felt frustrations and our board felt frustrations because we did see, and do see, a very clear patient-safety risk at Navan emergency department.”
He explained he believes it is necessary to “put in a new 24/7 emergency management assessment unit and, yes, the minister wanted us to stall that and made it very clear, so there were frustrations”.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly previously revealed there had been “tensions” and that he intervened in the HSE’S plan to replace the emergency department with a new Medical Assessment Unit – a move which, he claimed, did not “go down well in all quarters”. Mr Reid was yesterday asked if “all quarters” was a reference to him and responded there was “no doubt”. He added: “I’m very frustrated. We want this to happen. Our board believes there is a very real risk to the safety of patients.”
He claimed the risk in Navan is such that “I would not like to be taken to Navan emergency hospital [and] I would not like one of my family to be taken there”.
RTE presenter Claire Byrne reminded him he described in a book how Minister Donnelly’s “attitude” was “disrespectful” and “dismissive” and asked: “Does Stephen Donnelly respect and value you?”
The retiring HSE chief revealed they had met recently and were “professional” and said: “That’s a question for Stephen Donnelly but my view would be yes.”
The Irish Mirror contacted the Department of Health with this specific query about Mr Reid, who is one of the country’s highest paid public servants.
When his resignation was announced, Minister Donnelly said: “Since his appointment as [HSE] chief executive in June 2019, Paul Reid has provided exemplary leadership.”