Scottish Government health secretary Jeane Freeman announces three new board members for NHS Highland
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THREE new NHS Highland board members have been announced by the Scottish Government – in a move welcomed by the local health authority.
Health secretary Jeane Freeman announced the appointments of Gerard O’Brien, Graham Bell and Susan Ringwood on Monday.
They will take up their part-time seats on January 1 for four years.
Responding to the announcements Professor Boyd Robertson, NHS Highland's board chairman, said: “I warmly welcome these appointments and am delighted that they bring such a range of experience and expertise to the board.
"There was a healthy field of 54 applicants for these non-executive roles and Susan, Graham and Gerry were appointed from a very strong short list. This represents the second infusion of new blood to the board following the appointment of three other non-executives last year.
“I look forward eagerly to the New Year when we will have a full complement of non-executive and executive members of the board for the first time since I became Chair in March 2019.
"We have made notable progress in that period in addressing our cultural, financial and performance transformation agenda and in putting in place new leadership and revised governance arrangements and I am confident that each of the three new members will contribute handsomely to the realisation of the board’s objectives and forward trajectory.”
Gerard O’Brien is an experienced NHS professional who has worked in NHS Scotland for over 20 years. Having served as Director of Finance of NHS Orkney and the Scottish Ambulance Service, Mr O’Brien was appointed as Chief Executive of NHS Orkney, retiring in June. Mr O’Brien has a range of experience in the NHS and in particular strategic and financial planning. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.
Susan Ringwood has spent her career working in the voluntary sector – always involving work with people and had 13 years as a chief executive running the UK wide charity for people affected by eating disorders: Beat.
She has undertaken a variety of roles with the NHS in England prior to her move to Scotland, including being a non-executive (lay member) of a Clinical Commissioning Group where she had responsibility for the oversight of public and patient engagement, and was vice-chairwoman of the audit committee.
She has served on NICE Guidelines committees, NHS task forces for young people’s mental health, and most recently as a lay member of the national Medicines’ Optimisation Committee, looking at mitigating the impact of antimicrobial resistance, among other issues.
Graham Bell has experience of organisational development, major project implementation and operational sustainability. For 24 years, he was chief executive at Kibble, a specialist service provider of services for children and young people at risk. He has worked in both third sector and public service delivery and has international experience of economic and social development.
He also has board experience across a range of settings across the public, private and charitable sectors. He is currently an executive director of The Leader Scotland, a multi-sector leadership support and development company.
