‘War’ with stakeholders is over — Reid

The HSE CEO has said the Executive is no longer “at war” with stakeholders such as the Department of Health and Government.

Mr Reid was speaking to the Medical Independent (MI) after he addressed the Global Health Symposium at the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland on 25 October.

He told attendees that when he took up his post in May, he felt the HSE was “a little bit at war” with stakeholders.

Mr Reid said it was obvious the HSE had “been through a difficult and traumatic time” over the previous year-and-a-half because of the CervicalCheck controversy and other issues. 

“Certainly the Government felt we were at war and there was friction between ourselves and the Department [of Health],” he stated.

Speaking to MI following his address, Mr Reid said he believed this situation had improved.

“Yes, I can happily say it has, I think we have got a lot more confidence from Government in terms of the outcomes this year in terms of financial spend,” he told MI.

“So being able to give a level of predictability in those terms and working with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and [the Department of] Health, we have very strong engagement with them.

“Also working very strongly with the representative bodies, to respect their role, to value their role, working very strongly with staff in terms of setting a vision for them that they can be proud of our health service.”