Director of psychology recruitment for Cork and Kerry delayed

Recruitment for the controversial director of psychology role in HSE South West (Cork and Kerry), has been paused, the regional executive officer for the region has said in a video message to staff.

The role would have had authority over all psychologists and psychiatric nurses trained as psychotherapists, with unions Siptu, Fórsa and the Psychiatric Nurses Association saying they were not consulted before the role was announced and telling The Echo they were seeking a meeting with senior HSE staff to discuss it.

The Psychological Society of Ireland said it was “not consulted on any aspect of the recently advertised post” and that its members had expressed concerns about the role. 

Outside Caha House in Cork yesterday, Andy Phillips, regional executive officer for HSE South West said it was “moving ahead with making a number of appointments to the regional team” which he hopes to be able to announce soon.

He said: “Of course sometimes, we move ahead very quickly with our work and I have to say, I really want to bring people with us but sometimes that hasn’t been the case.

"I’d like to humbly apologise to colleagues where that has happened and let you know that I’ve learnt some lessons about that, particularly in terms of the director of psychology role.

“We tried to move ahead quickly because we have very long waiting lists for psychology and I’m really conscious of the children and adults waiting for their treatment,” he said.

Dr Philips said: “We’ve paused for a moment the recruitment for the role just to allow us to do some consultations with staff and unions so we can bring everybody together in that work.”

Clinical Psychologist and East Cork Social Democrats councillor Liam Quaide said, "It's welcome that Dr. Phillips is pausing recruitment of the Director of Psychology post pending consultation.” He explained that the grade existed previously in the HSE (vacated in Leinster since that post-holder retired in 2017), and that they have the title in the Children's Health Ireland (CHI) and a Director of Counselling role in the HSE.

But he continued, “However, none of those posts compare to the scale of remit envisaged for this Director of Psychology post in the South West.

“There is real concern among psychologists and nurse therapists about how this role was developed and a lack of transparency around who authored the remarkable job description.

“Many colleagues also worry about an over-concentration of power within a discipline that is already struggling to retain staff in some services.”