'HSE CEO should get huge salary'

The HSE CEO post should come with a seven-figure salary if the right candidate is to be attracted to it, according to UK management guru Gerry Robinson.

Mr Robinson said the HSE was the largest spending agency in Ireland and to run it well, efficiently and economically was a huge task.

"You need somebody capable of going in there, putting on the tin helmet and insisting they get three to four years when they are left alone to make the decisions to be made without political interference."

Mr Robinson, in an interview with the Journal of the Health Management Institute of Ireland, said for the HSE, you need "a youngish successful manager who's prepared to get old quickly."

"I think that the HSE needs to be able to pay the kind of salaries paid in the international field and I'm talking about millions rather than hundreds of thousands. Oh, I realise the press would go bananas but so what. The whole furore would pale into insignificance very quickly if the result was that you got a CEO who made the service work brilliantly."

Mr Robinson said the essence of running any large organisation, such as the HSE, successfully, was leadership skills, complete clarity about what needed to be achieved over a six or seven-year period and how the CEO planned to achieve it.

He said it shouldn't be hard to get people working in the HSE to believe in the importance of what they do.

"If you can get people excited about selling Heinz beans or Coca-Cola, you sure as hell can get them excited about delivering high quality healthcare."

He said the HSE CEO needed to set up a raft of objectives on what will be achieved over a six to seven year period.

"Objectives could be on the lines of having the lowest waiting lists in Europe or perhaps the best cancer cure times."

Mr Robinson said the HSE was running a service that is always going to be a political hot potato and which is always terribly subtle and can easily be out off track by one story in the media.

He said there should be a relatively small team at the centre managing the health services. There should, he said, be a very small team of about 70 to 80 people and very clear rules and regulations.

"Part of the problem of having lots of people is that when something goes wroing you can't pin it on anyone. When held accountable for failure and recognised for success, people perform at their best. Recognition of something well done is vital if people are to be motivated about what they do."

"Every organisation should have clear accountability across the system. Everyone wants to know exactly who they report to. Straightforward accountability is the key to any organisation."

Mr Robinson said the new CEO of the HSE should only promote people based on their achievements.

Donegal-born Gerry Robinson is one of the UK's most successful businessmen. In 2007, he presented a three-part TV series: "Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS?"

The HSE is currently looking for a CEO to replace Prof Brendan Drumm, who is stepping down during the summer after a five-year term. The new CEO will be paid salary of around €240,000, considerably less than what has been paid to Prof Drumm.

The full interview can be viewed here

[Posted: Wed 26/05/2010]