VHI Healthcare chief executive Jimmy Tolan has resigned, the company announced this afternoon.
No reason for the resignation was given but Mr Tolan, whose contract requires him to serve notice of six months, said he would return to the private sector. He joined the company in May 2008 from Fyffes, where he had been chief executive.
Questioned on the resignation after he addressed the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation in Kilkenny, Minister for Health James Reilly said he had had meetings with Mr Tolan.
“I would like to place on record my gratitude to him. He’s in the job two years, and in that time he has made some considerable progress in relation to controlling costs and changing the way the VHI provide care," Mr Reilly said.
The Minster added: “It’s well known that I have commissioned through the Department a review of the VHI and how it might best be handled into the future in terms of how it will fit in with our universal health insurance plans, and Goodbodys are undertaking that, and they have all options open to them.
"So on that basis I don’t want to say any more other than to say I’m focused on implementing Government policy, and I continue to be focused, determined utterly to fulfil the mandate the Irish people have given this Government, a resounding mandate and one which we intend to execute,” Dr Reilly added.
Asked if there were differences between him and Mr Tolan over the future of the VHI, Dr Reilly said: “It might be fair to say that he might have had issues with some of the options under consideration, and he has made his decision, and I utterly respect that."
Earlier, Bernard Collins, the chairman of the State’s largest private health insurance provider, said: “It is with regret that the board of VHI Healthcare has accepted Jimmy’s resignation,” said.
He described Mr Tolan as “an outstanding CEO” who had “focused on both improving VHI customers’ healthcare outcomes and also ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the organisation” .
Mr Collins said the outgoing chief executive had “overseen a number of innovations including the adoption of a comprehensive wellness strategy for the years ahead.”