Key Department of Health posts lie vacant despite Covid-19 pandemic warnings

Key medical posts at the Department of Health have been left unfilled, despite the gaps in Ireland’s pandemic preparedness exposed by Covid-19.

Two of the four deputy chief medical officer (CMO) posts are currently vacant, the department has confirmed. An advertisement seeking expressions of interest within the Health Service Executive yielded no applications.

Deputies to CMO Prof Breda Smyth are responsible for providing expert medical advice to the Government across all areas of public health.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Ronan Glynn, one of the deputy CMOs in the department, played a high-profile role in co-ordinating the State’s response to the crisis, but he left his post to work in the private sector in mid-2022.

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The posts have become less attractive since 2021, when public-health doctors won the right to be graded as public service-only consultants. Those who were upgraded moved from a maximum salary of €116,000 to a minimum entry-grade consultant rate of €145,000.

According to the department, the pay scale for public-health doctors in the office of the CMO ranges from €113,000 to €139,000.

The department has made a business case for improved salary scale for the posts to the Department of Public Expenditure, but as yet no agreement has been reached on the issue.

According to a department spokesman, it is correct to say there is a “considerable differential” in remuneration between the new consultant in public-health medicine pay scale and the current pay scale for public-health doctors in the CMO’s office.

“In that regard, the Department of Health is engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure with a view to conducting a review of the deputy CMO salary scale to ensure its continued competitiveness.”

Last September, the Government-appointed Public Health Reform Expert Advisory Group recommended a “significant strengthening” of Ireland’s public-health system to support the health and wellbeing of the population.

The group, chaired by Prof Hugh Brady of Imperial College London, said the Covid-19 pandemic provided a “stark reminder” of the importance of public health. In a report, it pointed out that Ireland now faces a host of significant public-health challenges and urged the Government to “go further” in reforming the public-health system.

“We need to strengthen national preparedness for future pandemics and other public-health threats,” the group advised.

A spokesman for the Department of Public Expenditure declined to comment, saying it was matter for the Department of Health.