Tusla chief executive Bernard Gloster has been appointed as new head of the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The appointment was approved by the HSE board on Friday and he is expected to take up the position next spring.
Mr Gloster succeeds Paul Reid, who stepped down as HSE chief executive in October after three years in the job.
Since then, the post has been occupied on an interim basis by Stephen Mulvany, who is expected to stay on until Mr Gloster takes up the role.
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Mr Gloster, who has been chief executive of the Tusla, the child and family agency, since 2019, was appointed following an open selection process and was successful ahead of a number of senior internal candidates.
Before joining Tusla, he spent more than 30 years working in the health service. He held several senior management positions including chief officer of HSE Mid West Community Healthcare, and has worked in both community and acute hospital operations. He is a social care worker by profession, with an MBA from Oxford Brookes University and an MSc in Management Practice from UCC.
Announcing the appointment, HSE board chairman Ciarán Devane said: “I am delighted that someone of Bernard’s experience, both within the HSE and externally within Tusla, is taking up this role. Bernard’s track record and commitment to public service will be invaluable as the HSE, like health services elsewhere, enters a period requiring great change and development.”
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said Mr Gloster “is a public servant with a track record of innovation and reform” across health and social care services over many years.
“At a time of unprecedented investment in the HSE, I know he is deeply committed to ensuring that the Irish health service becomes one of the best places in the world in which to be treated, and to work in,” he said.
“I am delighted that he is to take up this role. The challenge of leading our health services is among the most important roles in our public service and I look forward to working closely with Bernard as we work towards our goal of delivering universal health care for our people.”
Mr Gloster said he was “very privileged” to have been selected by the HSE to lead an organisation of such vital importance to the public.
“Working with such a large and diverse workforce committed to providing the best in health and social care brings many opportunities for continuous improvement in how people access and experience services. I look forward to working with the Board, my HSE colleagues, partners across the wider system as well as with the Minister and the Department on the health reform agenda,” he said.
