Former TD Jim is new chief of private hospitals

THE Private Hospitals Association (PHA) has announced the appointment of former junior health minister Jim Daly as its new chief executive officer.   

Mr Daly will lead the PHA nationally and will represent the interests of the sector with a range of key stakeholders including government, the HSE, regulators, health insurers and the wider health sector.

As ceo, Jim is tasked with working with association members in progressing key strategic objectives, including building on the emerging relationship between private hospitals and the wider health sector, and developing a new strategic partnership between the Department of Health/HSE and private hospitals on a multi-annual basis to help tackle the national waiting lists problem.

Announcing the appointment, PHA chairperson Bill Maher, said Jim would be a ‘leading voice’ within the sector and help shape the agenda.

Jim Daly said it was an honour to have been appointed during an ‘exciting yet challenging time in the Irish healthcare sector, after emerging from one of the most seismic periods in our country’s history’ post the Covid-19 pandemic.       

Mr Daly served as a TD in Cork South West between 2011 and announced his retirement from national politics in January 2020. He  was previously  a member of Cork County Council prior to being elected to represent the Cork South West in 2011.

Speaking to The Southern Star this weekend, Mr Daly said he was delighted to take on the role, and noted that another Drimoleague parish man, Tadhg Daly, also has a senior role in the private health sector, being the chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland.  Jim Daly is also chairman of Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI).