Chief HSPC Officer role announced by Department of Health

The Department of Health has confirmed they are creating the role of Chief Health and Social Care Professional (HSCP) Officer and the role will be independent of the Chief Nursing Officer.

AOTI warmly welcomes this news. The creation of the Chief HSCP Officer role in the Department of Health delivers on a key advocacy objective of the Association, which we have worked hard to achieve in recent years in collaboration with our colleagues in the Health and Social Care Professional Alliance (HSCPA).

The Chief HSCP Officer will work alongside the Chief Medical and Nursing Officers thereby delivering parity for our professions within Department of Health structures. This is a great development for the Occupational Therapy profession and all other HSPC professions in Ireland. The collective advocacy of the HSCPA over the last 10 years has delivered this great outcome.

The advert for this new role was placed on the HSE website last night and can be found here. In the initial period, the role will be filled through secondment from the HSE for a period of 3-5 years.

We look forward to engaging with the new HSCP unit in the Department and working with the first appointee when they commence in the role.