Work is progressing to establish 6 health regions from 1 March 2024. This staff news update introduces the Regional Executive Officers (REOs) for each of the 6 health regions. It outlines progress made in important areas of the design of health regions, and lists the next steps in the implementation of health regions.
This update covers the following:
- REOs appointed
- Organisation design ongoing
- Integrated Service Delivery (ISD)
- Patient and service-user partnership approach
- Staff supports and communications
- Implementation timeline
- Next steps
REOs appointed
REOs for each of the health regions have now been appointed. The REOs will manage health and social care services in their areas.
The REOs are:
- Sara Long, REO, HSE Dublin and North East
- Kate Killeen White, REO, HSE Dublin and Midlands
- Martina Queally, REO, HSE Dublin and South East
- Sandra Broderick, REO HSE Mid West
- Dr Andy Philips, REO, HSE South West
- Tony Canavan, REO, HSE West and North West
View the map of the 6 health regions
The REOs will be supported by a regional Executive Management Team (EMT) to be appointed during 2024.
Organisational design
Work is progressing on the new design of the HSE Centre and the health regions. This involves consultation with stakeholders and includes finalising:
- the role and function of the HSE Centre and the health regions
- the design of the new functions; Access and Integration, Planning and Performance
- the design of National Services and Schemes
- changes to other functions to reflect the role of the health regions
We are also finalising the design of the Health Region Executive Management Team (EMT). The EMT will report to the REOs.
Integrated Service Delivery (ISD)
The Health Regions Programme Team is working with the Health Intelligence Unit, Primary Care Strategy and the Department of Health to determine the boundaries of the Integrated Healthcare Areas (IHAs) for each health region.
The IHAs are the substructures of the Health Regions and will include both community services and hospitals in a structure to further support integrated care. We are consulting with a range of stakeholders from across the system to inform this process.
Patient partnership approach
Including voices of patients and service users as partners in the design work is important to the Health Regions Programme Team and crucial to make sure that services will ultimately be patient-centred.
In 2023, the Programme Team held workshops with patient and service-user representatives in working together to design an approach to patient and service-user partnership (PSUPs) in the new health region structures.
Key findings from the workshops and submissions received from PSUPs were:
- Having effective PSUPs will make sure that all voices across all community and acute settings are represented.
- PSUP representatives should be included on implementation planning and oversight groups.
- An organisational framework will be needed to outline lines of engagement within and between health regions.
The key themes that emerged from these workshops were:
- improving collaborative working
- equity and access
- governance
- challenges
Based on these workshops, the Programme Team, together with patients and service users, co-designed an approach proposal for ‘Patient and Service User Partnership in Health Regions Design’.
This proposal includes recommendations on how to involve PSUPs in co-designing the health region structures across the three headings of patient and service user representation, improving the patient and service user experience and improving governance and accountability. In January 2024 this approach was approved by the programme governance groups.
The following elements were highlighted as requirements to support this work:
- A strategy and a regional framework
- A regional council
- A regional office
- A regional lead
The programme team will work with the National Patient Experience Team in progressing the next steps to implement the PSUP proposal aligned to the Patient and Service User national strategy.
Health regions implementation timeline summary
February 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health
On Thursday 8 February, the health regions programme team provided a technical briefing to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health. This briefing included an overview and update on implementation, key timelines, and actions for 2024. It also included the challenges and opportunities encountered.
The team presented the progress on high-level design of the Health Regions:
- roles and responsibilities
- Integrated Healthcare Areas,
- population-based planning
- patient and service user partnership approach
New role of the HSE Centre
The health regions will serve as operational entities of the HSE, reporting to the CEO. The HSE Centre will support and enable the regions, and provide national services.
This structure will allow for integrated services, in which community and hospital services are not delivered separately.
The HSE's national leadership will include the CEO, 6 Regional Executive Officers, and senior positions at the centre.
CEO's memo on HSE centre changes issued on Friday 9 February 2024
Organogram showing new HSE centre assignments
These changes will be made between now and September 2024.
The next steps towards completing this phase of implementation are:
- Monday 4 March: Regional Executive Officers (REO) induction
- Monday 11 March: Delegated responsibility for REOs in South West, West and North West, Dublin and Midlands (Mid West and Dublin, and South East already commenced)
- Monday 15 April: Delegated responsibility for remaining REO Dublin and North East
- Tuesday 4 June: National interim senior leadership team final meeting
- Wednesday 5 June: Current national executive management team final meeting
- Tuesday 11 June: New national senior leadership team first meeting; and commence majority national SLT delegated functions (only where necessary and no later than 30 September)
- Monday 30 September: New REO regional executive management teams commence
From 1 March 2024
Health regions will be in place from 1 March as REOs are appointed. As of 14 February 2024, 2 health regions, HSE Mid West and HSE Dublin South East are operating, with Regional Executive Officers in place. The health regions will continue to develop in line with the implementation plan.
Hospital Group boundaries are in transition in line with new health region boundaries and work within the CHOs will continue to progress over the coming weeks.
The CHO and Hospital Group management teams will support and report to the REOs in early 2024 until the health region EMTs are appointed.
September 2024
CHOs and HGs stood down
Health Regions EMT appointed. CHOs and Hospital Groups to be stood down by the end of September.
2025 onwards
From 2025 and beyond, health regions will continue to be embedded and enhanced, new ways of working will be progress in delivering patient-centred integrated care.
Staff supports and communications updates
Transition planning
HSE National HR is working on transition planning for staff who may be affected by the rollout of the new structures. This will be done in partnership with staff representative organisations.
Change management support
Change Management support will be enhanced at a regional level to help staff manage the change effectively
HSE Visual Identity
The HSE Communication team is creating a visual identity policy for the health regions and HSE Centre. This will include practical templates for offices and teams to use.
Next steps
By 1 March 2024, based on the Health Regions Implementation Plan, we aim to have:
- progressed the alignment of boundaries of the existing CHOs and Hospital Groups to match the agreed health region boundaries
- agreed the HSE Centre, Health Region EMT and Integrated Healthcare Area structures
- completed a transition plan (to the end of September 2024) to move to the new HSE Centre and Health Region Structures.
- completed population health profiles for each region
We will keep you up-to-date on the implementation of health regions over coming months.
Contact
If you have a question about any of the information on this page or would like more information about the health region implementation programme email healthregions.team@hse.ie
Glossary
- REO: Regional Executive Officer
- IHA: Integrated Health Area
- ISD: Integrated Service Delivery
- EMT: Executive Management Team
- CHOs: Community Healthcare Organisations
- PSUPs: Patient and service-user partnership