A senior administrator with wide experience of the UK health Service is to be appointed chairman of the restructured board at Tallaght hospital in Dublin. Sir Keith Pearson has been nominated to the board by Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson.
The Department of Health said that Sir Keith had more than 30 years’ experience in the healthcare sector.
The Minister for Health is to be given effective control over the appointment of the majority of members to the newly slimmed-down Tallaght Hospital Board, including the chairperson, under the planned radical changes in how the hospital is run.
Health Minister James Reilly recently announced that Tallaght was to get a new restructured board with nine members.
The current Tallaght board , appointed during the summer, has 14 members. In the wake of the x-ray scandal in 2010, it had been recommended that the then Tallaght board of 23 members be slimmed down in size to between 10 and 12 members.
Under the new arrangements, the health minister effectively has control over the appointment of the majority of members to the Tallaght board.