A POWERFUL new 'director of communications' post with a top salary of £79,000 is being created at the Department of Health.
Reporting to the department's permanent secretary Richard Pengelly, the successful candidate will not only control its media strategy but will also be heavily involved in the roll-out of former Sinn Féin minister Michelle's O'Neill blueprint for the future of the north's NHS.
It is understood that out of the nine Stormont departments, health is the only one where such a job will exist.
The most senior person in government press teams is currently known as the senior information officer - but would be on a considerably lower salary.
The director of communications post has a salary range of £69,961-£79,058.
There has been repeated criticism of a lack of transparency across the north's multi-layered health structures, including in a devastating report by Sir Liam Donaldson in 2015 who warned about concerns of frontline whisteblowers being "denigrated".
The former chief medical officer for England also singled out disastrous public relations around the last multi-million pound programme to overhaul the north's health service, Transforming Your Care (TYC) - and how its "weak communication and little action" resulted in "substantial scepticism".
The creation of the new communications post is an attempt to introduce a "step change" in how the north's health service "engages with the media and general public", according to a 35-page booklet on the job specification.
The person appointed will not only head up internal and external communications at the department but also lead multiple press teams across the north's NHS quangos including the six health trusts, the Health and Social Care Board and Public Health Agency.
The booklet also states that the new communications post will seek to "foster a better sense of unity and shared purpose" among NHS workers, including doctors and nurses, as well as managers.
There was an outcry earlier this year over an email sent by Mr Pengelly, the most senior civil servant at the department, warning doctors not to tweet about politics in the run-up to the assembly election.
Mr Pengelly, who is married to the DUP South Belfast MP Emma Pengelly, claimed that health service staff should remain "neutral".
Dr George O'Neill, a Belfast GP, last night welcomed the new job but said he hoped the successful candidate will have more "autonomy to operate" than previous communication chiefs - whose role was confined to "damage limitation".
The job specification states: "The post holder has to judge when it is best (and to what extent) to involve the minister, the permanent secretary and/or senior officials in respect of communication issues."
Dr O'Neill said: "What happened previously failed as the communication chief was needed was to protect the institutions they worked for and they became obstructionist.
"If this new person has more independence it will be a very important role as they will be there to inform about key changes in the service."
