HSE announces major revamp

The HSE has announced a major shake-up of its administrative structures, with four regional teams to be set up with the aim of devolving decision-making closer to the point of service delivery.

It says these teams will operate under specific performance contracts from head office and will face penalties if they fail to meet targets.

The HSE's National Director of Primary, Community and Continuing Care , Laverne McGuinness, said today that its move to devolve decision- making would be driven by performance contracts, incentives and sanctions.
 
She said that under the HSE’s new regional structure, performance contracts between central and regional management teams will be used to ensure that clinical quality, service volumes, service improvement and budget targets are being met.
 
“At the heart of our management process will be performance contracts. They will be binding and if regional teams fail to meet their targets they could have some elements of their financial authority withdrawn”, she said.
 
Ms McGuinness was speaking today at the Transforming Public Services Conference at Croke Park in Dublin.
 
The process to merge the HSE’s two main service directorates, the National Hospital Office and Primary, Community and Continuing Care, into a single Integrated Services Directorate will begin next month, Ms McGuuinness said.

The move is central to the HSE’s strategy to integrate hospital and community services at national and local level, she said.
 
Four regional teams, which will have full accountability and responsibility for local health and social care services, will report into the national Integrated Services Directorate.

The Directorate will be responsible for holding these regional teams accountable for their performance. This will cover both day-to-day service delivery and service improvement, according to the HSE.

It will be responsible for monitoring the performance and financial management of each regional team and care group managers.
 
"The advantage of having regional teams led by Regional Directors of Operations is that there will now be one person ultimately responsible for all health and social care services in each of our four regions," Ms McGuinness said.
 
“Up to now this responsibility has been spread between a number of executives with no one person accountable for all services in a region. This has not been in the best interest of patients and clients. It held us back in being able to respond swiftly to their changing needs. This new approach will take decision making and accountability closer to patients and clients."
 
The HSE will  manage regional performance through annual performance contracts with each of the four regional directors of operations and national service managers.
 
“These contracts will set out the volume and quality of services they must deliver within their communities with their budget, " Ms McGuinness said.

[Posted: Tue 15/09/2009]