Private firm to take over running of the city’s main hospital

By Dara Bradley

A private company is set to take over the running of University Hospital Galway (UHG), as part of an overhaul of hospital management throughout the HSE West region. 

The Department of Health has already begun a tender process in which five private companies are competing to secure a contract for taking over the running of a number of acute hospitals in the western region, including UHG.  

The Connacht Sentinel has learned that the successful business that will be responsible for the city hospital is expected to be announced within the next fortnight.  

The reforms will introduce a new management structure that will report directly to the Department of Health through Special Delivery Units (SDUs), while existing hospital and HSE management will undergo a process of up-skilling as part of the plans.  

The new structure is expected to be operational at UHG by next month. 

The announcement follows discussions between Fine Gael Deputy Brian Walsh and Minister for Health James Reilly after the Galway West TD submitted proposals for reform of the management system at UHG earlier this year. 

The finer details of how the new structure would operate have not yet been unveiled by Government. It is understood Dr David O’Keeffe, Clinical Director of UHG, will remain in his position, but he will have diminished responsibility as this new company takes over. 

It is also understood the new management will still be answerable to the HSE West Regional Director of Operations John Hennessy, but it will also report directly to the Minister. 

Deputy Walsh has hailed the move as “the most significant reform of the acute hospital sector in Ireland since the inception of the Health Service Executive”.  

He said there has been a management deficiency at UHG and other HSE West hospitals and the appointment of a company that specialises in management will address the problem.  

“Galway’s public hospitals have exceptional nursing staff, state-of-the-art facilities and some of the top clinical specialists in the world. But it is clear that there are deficiencies within the management structure of the HSE. 

“Minister Reilly has acknowledged that excellent administrators and clinicians within the HSE – that were not trained as managers – were promoted to management in the past without ever being given the skills set to do their jobs. But these plans will bring people in from the outside to address those deficiencies. The managers will have management know-how and will beef-up the management team,” said Deputy Walsh.  

Deputy Walsh said it is his understanding that this new private management company would supersede the appointment of the remaining two positions, signalling a change in tack on the Minister’s part.  

A management source in UHG told the Sentinel there is confusion within the hospital about Minister Reilly’s plans for new management structures. “We’re in the dark; we don’t know what is going on or what is being planned,” he said. 

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel