We are currently transitioning to the new health regions structure. This page provides the latest information about the changes happening throughout the year.
In this latest update, we share progress on:
Health regions
Regional Executive Officers
Regional Executive Officers (REOs) are accountable and responsible for the operational service delivery within their respective regions. They report directly to the CEO.
All 6 REOs are in place and have assumed responsibility for their regions.
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 Phillips, REO, HSE South West
- Tony Canavan, REO, HSE West and North West
Learn more about the REOs for the 6 health regions
Regional Executive Management Team (EMT)
Recruitment is at an advanced stage for the following roles:
- Regional directors of communications and public affairs
- Regional directors of planning and performance
- IHA managers
- Regional clinical directors
Regional directors of people and regional directors of finance are now in place in 5 of the 6 health regions. Recruitment for these roles is ongoing in HSE South West.
The regional directors will be members of the EMT in each health region. They will report directly to the REOs.
The IHA manager roles will not result in an increase in senior management staff numbers in the HSE. They are being funded and organised by restructuring existing senior management positions.
The other senior leadership roles in health regions will be filled by internal competitions. Only those with the required qualifications or experience are eligible to apply.
View the advanced design of the HSE EMT model (PDF, 167KB, 1 page)
National directors
Recruitment is underway for the national director of strategic infrastructure and capital delivery.
Recruitment is at the final stages for the appointment of the national director for access and integration.
Integrated Healthcare Areas (IHAs)
IHAs will be the substructures within each of the 6 new health regions. There will be 20 IHAs in total. They will serve a population of around 300,000 and will take account of local geographies, population size, needs and services.
IHAs will bring together both acute and community services as well as other non-HSE providers. This will be crucial to supporting and enabling integrated care.
Details and maps of the IHA areas will be shared in the coming weeks.
View the high-level IHA structure (PDF, 112KB, 1 page)
Integrated care
The new health region structures will support and strengthen integrated care. This includes integration between:
- primary care and community services, including GPs, pharmacies and voluntary organisations
- acute hospitals and community services
- the HSE and wider public service organisations, such as local authorities
While structural change alone will not deliver integrated care, it will clarify roles and responsibilities at all levels of the organisation. It will create the conditions for more integrated working.
Learn more about why we’re integrating health and social care services
Integrated Service Delivery (ISD) model
The health regions programme team is progressing the detailed design of the ISD model. This includes structures, processes and ways of working. It builds on the design work undertaken in 2023 and involves engagement with a wide range of stakeholders.
HSE Centre
Mapping and reorganising the HSE Centre
As we move to a new structure with health regions, changes have been made to the HSE Centre to support the health regions.
Read more about staff transition arrangements
Senior Leadership Team
The HSE Centre will operate as the HSE's governing body. The purpose of the HSE Centre will be to support health regions to deliver health and social care services for patients and service users. The centre will fulfil the functions of Planning, Enablement, Performance and Assurance (PEPA).
The HSE Senior Leadership Team includes the 6 Regional Executive Officers (REOs) and national directors for the following areas:
- National services and schemes
- Access and integration
- Clinical
- People
- Finance
- Technology and transformation
- Communications and public affairs
- Strategic infrastructure and capital delivery
- Internal audit
- Planning and performance
Recruitment is ongoing for the national director roles of strategic infrastructure and capital delivery. Recruitment is at final stages for the national director of access and integration. National directors have been appointed for all of the other areas.
New HSE Centre structure with appointed national directors (PDF, 112 KB, 1 page)
CEO memo about HSE Centre changes issued on 9 February 2024 (PDF, 170 KB, 7 pages)
Introducing our new Chief Social Worker
Amanda Casey is the first Chief Social Worker for the HSE. She’s an experienced social worker with a strong interest in promoting human rights across all health and social care services.
One of the Chief Social Worker’s main priorities will be to transform how we safeguard adults at risk of harm or abuse. This includes:
- reducing harm
- promoting and protecting the rights of the people we care for
- empowering them to make choices
- considering the person and their family first when harm does occur
As staff members, we can safeguard those who use our services by:
- knowing what abuse and harm looks like
- knowing what to do if we have concerns
- getting training and support to manage concerns and complex situations
Find out more about safeguarding vulnerable adults
Protecting adults at risk is everyone’s responsibility, but it should be led by social workers with expertise in managing and reducing risk across a person’s life. Amanda will be contacting important stakeholders to progress this work.
The creation of this role demonstrates our commitment to person-centred, rights-based health and social care in Ireland. It will provide a strong organisational structure to support consistent adult safeguarding across our health regions.
The Adult Safeguarding in Ireland review is our roadmap for this change.
Transition to the new structures
We are currently in the transition period as we move to the new structures, both at HSE Centre and across health regions. During this time, current systems will remain in place to ensure safe transition and to maintain services.
The Health Region Programme Steering Group meets monthly to oversee and support the transition to, and implementation of, health regions. The group membership includes:
- REOs
- national directors
- patient and service user representatives
- representatives from partner and voluntary agencies
People
People transition planning
HR is leading on people transition activities. It is also providing guidance to health regions and the HSE Centre throughout the period of transition.
Many staff will have questions about when changes will happen, why they are happening and who will be affected.
National HR has developed a staff ‘Q and A’ document to address questions about the transition to health regions.
HR will continue to engage directly with staff and their representative organisations through each stage of the process.
For a large percentage of staff, there will be no significant change as we transition to health regions, apart from perhaps a change in the person to whom they report.
It is important to note the reform programme is not an attempt to downsize the HSE. There will be a meaningful role for everyone in the new structures.
Staff transition arrangements
Safe transitioning will require a phased approach over the coming months to maintain services, both at HSE Centre and across health regions.
Phase 1 (before 1 June 2024) involves mapping all roles and activities from the current structure to the new HSE Centre and regional structures.
The level of change that staff experience will depend on the position they hold. Some staff may be asked to report to a different national director until further transitional arrangements are completed.
Phase 2 (from 1 June) will continue over the summer months. This will allow the new national directors to input on the further work required. It will also involve recruiting regional leadership roles.
Any changes to current roles and responsibilities will be communicated through line managers. Staff should continue with their usual tasks and responsibilities in the meantime. This is important in maintaining service delivery.
Staff transition arrangements will include:
- making changes in line with the new CEO Centre design published by the CEO (PDF, 170 KB, 7 pages)
- supporting the REOs in setting up the health regions in the short term and the new Executive Management Team (EMT) structures over the coming months
- moving hospital group and CHO teams to the new health region EMT and IHA management structures
- ongoing engagement with staff representative groups via the National Joint Council and other staff representative engagements
Staff transition principles
The move from the current structure to the new HSE Centre and health regions will be achieved through:
- confined competitions
- some promotional opportunities
- redeployment
One of the key principles (agreed by government) is that the revised structures and transition approach must be achieved within current resources. This means Whole Time Equivalent [WTE] neutral and grade neutral.
Next steps
Next steps as we continue this transition include:
- filling direct reports of the CEO and REOs, completion of recruitment of national directors and prioritising the recruitment of health region EMTs
- filling other roles on a function-by-function basis
- keeping some current systems in place to make sure we transition safely and always maintain services to ensure minimal disruption to patients and service users
- aiming to complete these changes by 30 September 2024
Regional health profiles
Health regions will prioritise and plan services that meet the regional population's needs. This means it’s essential to have good information on the populations they serve.
Population profiles for each HSE region are now available. These profiles provide an overview of the key demographic features of the population.
Access the 6 regional population profiles
Communications
Integrated Healthcare: Advancing Healthcare Reform Conference
This HSE national conference took place in Dublin on Thursday 5 September. The theme of the conference was ‘empowering people and improving experiences’.
Speakers from the HSE, Department of Health and patient partners took part in the conference which focused on 7 key initiatives. A session led by Liam Woods, National Director of the Health Regions Programme, gave an update on health region implementation and included a panel discussion.
Other session topics included:
- Working List Action Plan (WLAP) in Action: Improving Access and Delivering Reform
- Enhanced Community Care Programme
- Disability Services
- Urgent and Emergency Care
- Digital - Enabling Integrated Care
- General Practice
Watch back the Advanced Healthcare Reform Conference and view speaker slides and presentations
Patient and service user partnership in health regions
A patient and service user partnership proposal was finalised in February 2024. A plain English version of this proposal was completed in July 2024.
Read the patient and service user partnership proposal - Plain English version
Read the patient and service user partnership proposal
This proposal has been informed by submissions from patients and service users. It has also been informed by patient and service user partnership workshops in 2023. The proposal mainly focusses on:
- patient and service user representation
- improving the patient and service user experience
- improving governance and accountability
The implementation of this proposal will keep the voices of patients and service users at the centre of health regions’ design.
Discussing health regions in team meetings
It is important that all staff are aware of the changes that are underway and the reasons for these changes. We are asking managers and staff to:
- educate yourself about the health region and HSE Centre reforms
- engage with your colleagues about what the health region reforms mean for you and your service
- use opportunities like team meetings to consider new health regions as you plan and deliver your services
To support these discussions, we have prepared a slide deck presentation. The presentation includes a general overview of the health regions and an update on implementation.
The slides are intended for delivery at team and department meetings by line managers, heads of service or heads of department.
Suggested speakers’ notes are included to support managers delivering the presentation.
Download the health regions slide presentation (PowerPoint, 8.89 MB, 29 pages)
Health regions webinar series
The health regions programme team is running a series of webinars in 2024. These webinars will provide an update on the implementation of health regions and focus on key objectives of the programme.
The next webinar will take place on Thursday 26 September at 1pm. It will:
- provide an update on health regions implementation
- focus on managing change in the HSE as we move towards more integrated care
- share relevant resources and first-hand experiences of implementing change
Register for the next health regions webinar on Thursday 26 September
The first webinar in the series took place on Thursday 27 June. It included a focus on population-based planning. The webinar also covered:
- implementation of the health regions
- regional health profiles
- Health Atlas
Watch back the health regions webinar from Thursday 27 June on YouTube
View presentation slides from the health regions webinar on Thursday 27 June (PDF, 6.62MB, 53 pages)
Contact
If you have a question about any of the information on this page, or want more information about the health region implementation programme, email healthregions.team@hse.ie.