Appointments to HSE Board - 26 September 2024

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has received government approval to directly appoint Mr. Michael Cawley, Ms. Lily Collison and Mr. Kenneth Mealy to the Health Service Executive (HSE) Board.

The Minister decided to appoint these individuals to the Board based on the following reasons:

• a key priority for the Minister and the HSE is to drive productivity in the health service to maximise the use of health funding by delivering safe health services to as many people as possible in a timely way. A core objective of the Programme for Government is to increase the capacity of the health service across all aspects of care to provide access to quality services and to meet the needs of our growing population. Michael Cawley will bring private sector experience of finance, strategy, and performance to the Board to drive capacity, productivity, and efficiency of healthcare delivery
• the Minister and the HSE note the importance and significant contribution of patient advocates who share their experiences and perspectives of the health service to inform the development and reform of health policy and health services. The patient voice and patient participation is essential to effective health policy and enhancing service development. Lily Collison will bring her expertise in patient advocacy and disability to the Board to ensure a focus on the patient voice and involving patient and service user voices in the governance of the health system. HSE specialist community disability services fall under the remit of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and this appointment will also ensure the representation of the disability voice on the Board
• a key priority for the Minister and the HSE is waiting list reform to ensure that patients have safe and timely access to high-quality scheduled care in acute hospitals, through the continued implementation of the Waiting List Action Plan and Public Only Consultants Contract. A core objective of the Programme for Government is to increase the capacity of the health service across all aspects of care to provide access to quality services and to meet the needs of our growing population. Kenneth Mealy will bring expertise from the acute hospital sector in performance management and quality improvement in surgery to the Board to progress waiting list reform and progress reductions in acute scheduled care waiting lists and waiting times

Michael Cawley is a Qualified Chartered Accountant and has formerly acted as Chairperson of Linked Finance and Fáilte Ireland, and as Chair of the Audit Committees of both Flutter (formerly Paddy Power Betfair) and Kingspan. Michael served as Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer of Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline from 2002-14.

Michael currently holds the following external appointments: Hostelworld (Chairperson), Gowan Group Limited (Board Member) and is a former Board member of PrepayPower, Clancourt, Ryanair and Winthrop Technologies.

This appointment is effective from 30 September 2024 until 29 September 2027.

Lily Collison is a long-time advocate for cerebral palsy care and is a member of the Paediatric Spinal Taskforce set up by the Minister for Health. She has a Master’s degree in Science and is Program Director at Gillette Children’s Healthcare Press and a member of the Board of Directors of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. Lily previously served as a Board Member on the Board of Inland Waterways.

Lily’s adult son has spastic diplegia. In 2020, she wrote “Spastic Diplegia–Bilateral Cerebral Palsy” in conjunction with senior medical staff at Gillette Children’s. Lily co-authored “Pure Grit: Stories of Remarkable People Living with Physical Disability” with Kara Buckley. “Pure Grit” tells the stories of nineteen people across the globe, who grew up with physical disability and are living and thriving in diverse fields.

With a background in science, her 30+ year career included senior management positions in industry and education. Lily has also acted as Founder and Managing Director of SQT Training Ltd in Limerick, and as a lecturer in Quality Management at Atlantic Technological University (formerly IT Sligo).

This appointment is effective from 30 September 2024 until 29 September 2027.

Kenneth Mealy is a consultant general surgeon and the current Chair of the Forum of Irish Postgraduate Medical Training Bodies. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and his surgical training took place in Dublin and the UK. Kenneth was a Research Fellow in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School from 1987 – 1989. He has been Joint Lead of the National Clinical Programme in Surgery (2010 – 2019 and 2021 - present). He was instrumental in setting up the National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) in 2012 and is currently Chair of the NOCA Board. He has had a long interest in performance management and quality improvement in surgery and has published widely on these and other surgical topics. He is a former President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Kenneth is currently Clinical Director of the Liver Transplant and HPB Unit at St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin. Kenneth has previously acted as Chair of the Surgical Forum, and is currently Chair of the Forum of Irish Postgraduate Training Bodies and the Medical Intern Board.

This appointment is effective from 30 September 2024 until 29 September 2027.