Qld Health boss picked on merit: premier

The "Mr Fix-It" who failed to fix Queensland Health's broken payroll system has been appointed as head of the department on his merits, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk insists.

Michael Walsh, who was deputy director-general of health when the payroll system went live in 2010, was named as the new director-general on Friday.

He was dubbed "Mr Fix-It" when the Bligh government appointed him to repair the payroll system, but he resigned months later without solving the costly debacle.

Ms Palaszczuk denies she is dragging up the past by bringing Mr Walsh back into Queensland Health and has stressed he has been appointed solely on his merits.

"We ran an independent merit selection process for directors-general in this state, something that the former LNP (government) did not," she said.

"Mr Walsh was selected on merit and I expect him to do his job."

Queensland's government made all directors-general reapply for their jobs this year.

Three Liberal National Party-appointed directors-general have been replaced since Ms Palaszczuk warned all department heads that they would need to be 100 per cent committed to carrying out Labor's election commitments.

There are still 10 directors-general to be appointed but Ms Palaszczuk would not confirm whether they would be named before the end of the financial year on June 30.

"We were inundated with applications," she said. "That process is being worked through and I'm very confident that at the end of the day we will have a very well-experienced team that will carry out their duty and responsibility to the people of Queensland."