A chairman has been appointed to head the Galway-Roscommon hospital group as part of a Department of Health hospital reform package.

Noel Daly, a Roscommon native, will lead the hospital group for three years, in bid to improve hospital governance and the quality and safety of systems of patients care.

The appointment of the NUIG Economics graduate has been announced by the Minister for Health, in response to the recent report by the Health Information Quality Authority, or HIQA, into governance and patient care at Tallaght hospital.

Mr Daly, who worked as a secondary school teacher before embarking on his health career is currently overseas, and is not available to comment on his appointment.