John Connaghan has been appointed Interim Director General of the HSE by Health Minister, Simon Harris.
He was formerly Deputy Director General and Chief Operating Officer of the Executive.
He has over 30 years experience of both the private and public sector. He spent the early part of his career in the printing and publishing industry with responsibility for manufacturing plants in Scotland and the USA, introducing the concept of quality circles and “lean” in a factory environment. During his NHS career in Scotland, he held three different Chief Executive positions with responsibility for some of the largest teaching hospitals in Scotland.
He joined the Scottish Government in 2006 as Director of NHS Delivery – with the remit to improve overall NHS performance. He left the Scottish Government as NHS Chief Operating Officer having spent some time as interim Director General and Chief Executive of the NHS with accountable officer status for £12.5bn and 156,000 staff.
Both his parents were originally from Arranmore Island in Donegal.
In 2015, Queen Elizabeth awarded him the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for services to health.
