The salary of the chief executive of the Royal Hospital in Donnybrook was increased in breach of the public pay scales.
This is the second hospital to have been found to be non-compliant.
Earlier this year, The Irish Times revealed that the salary for the chief executive of St John’s Hospital in Limerick was increased to a higher pay bracket, which has resulted in significant tensions between the hospital board and the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Following this, the Department of Public Expenditure asked the HSE to examine salaries of other voluntary hospitals, which tend to be State funded but run by boards or religious institutions.
READ MORE
Anne Marie Hoey, chief people officer at the HSE, wrote to the board of the Donnybrook hospital on October 9th requesting confirmation that it was complying with the statutory pay rules for its chief executive.
“These salary scales must be strictly adhered to and employees should not receive remuneration in the nature of pay or allowances in excess of these approved amounts,” she said.
“Non-exchequer sources of funding may not be used to supplement approved rates of remuneration.”
In a response on October 15th, Conor O’Connor, chairman of the board of the hospital, responded, saying the hospital’s chief executive, Deirdre Hogan, was recruited at a higher salary in May 2024 as “no suitable candidate could be sourced” at the correct pay band.
The hospital is considered “H1” under the consolidated public pay scales approved by the Department of Health and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
Chief executives in the H1 bracket can earn between €81,444 and €98,231. However, the hospital recruited its chief executive on a general manager (GM) salary of €105,604.
“The previous incumbent, also at GM grade, was retiring and indeed had postponed his retirement on a number of occasions to facilitate us, a situation that could not continue indefinitely,” Mr O’Connor said.
Following a board decision on the matter, Mr O’Connor said, the HSE was informed it would be recruiting at the higher pay band in December 2023, and “formal” communication was issued to it about this in April 2024.
He said the hospital board “sanctioned the recruitment given that no other feasible options were available in the circumstances where the CEO role is a key role in the organisation and the person appointed must hold the requisite knowledge and skills for the post”.
Mr O’Connor added that the successful candidate was already a HSE employee and was on this salary before her appointment to the hospital.
The correspondence was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Asked about this noncompliance, a HSE spokeswoman said it and its agencies are “obliged” to implement salaries sanctioned by the Department of Health.
“Where an organisation has appointed its CEO at a rate higher than the sanctioned rate, it has been advised that it is a breach of the pay policy and reminded of the terms of the Service Agreement between the HSE and the organisation regarding its requirement to meet the public health sector pay policy,” she said.
In response to queries, Donnybrook hospital’s chief executive Ms Hogan said the board made “every effort” to appoint a chief executive in accordance with public pay policy.
“The decision to appoint the CEO at general manager grade was made by the board following an unsuccessful campaign to appoint a CEO at the approved level. The HSE was advised of the position at the time,” she added.
Voluntary hospitals have consistently maintained that they are unable to recruit or retain chief executives due to pay cuts introduced in 2015.
The new bands reduced pay rates for existing chief executives of voluntary hospitals by up to 10 per cent and for new-hire chief executives by up to 25 per cent.
