The interim chair of NHS Tayside will continue in the role for the “foreseeable future”, the health board has confirmed.
Lorna Birse-Stewart took up the post following the resignation last month of Professor Nic Beech, who left the job without leading a single board meeting to become the head of Middlesex University.
An NHS Tayside board member for 18 months, Prof Beech attended its past meeting on October 31 but was not in the chair. He will take up his new role on February 1.
Mrs Birse-Stewart’s announcement comes among a host of new appointments at NHS Tayside, with the health board and Dundee City Council also confirming Vicky Irons will become chief officer for the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership.
Mrs Irons, who is the current chief officer for the Angus Health and Social Care Partnership, replaces the retiring David Lynch.
She has previously worked throughout Scotland in a range of senior management roles across health and social care. She is also currently the national chairwoman of HSC Scotland Chief Officers Group.
Trudy McLeay, chair of the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership Integration Joint Board said: “Vicky comes to us with extensive NHS and local authority experience and this will be invaluable as we look to meet the challenges around the Health and Social Care Partnership.”
At an NHS Tayside board meeting at Ninewells Hospital, Mrs Birse-Stewart confirmed Professor Peter Stonebridge had been appointed as medical director on October 31 after previously fulfilling the role on an interim basis.
Prof Stonebridge has been a central figure in addressing the NHS Tayside breast cancer chemotherapy scandal which saw around 200 patients given lower than standard chemotherapy doses between December 2016 and April this year.
Meanwhile, Stuart Lyall has been appointed as the health board’s financial director, pending approval from health secretary Jeane Freeman, after also previously holding the role on an interim basis.
Mr Lyall will oversee efforts to bring the cash-strapped health board’s finances under control, a central aim of chief executive Grant Archibald.
Mrs Birse-Stewart confirmed interviews for a whistleblowing non-executive member have also been completed and the successful candidate is expected to join the board at its next meeting on January 31.
Two further non-executive appointments to the board are also going through a cabinet secretary approval process. Both will become members of the Perth and Kinross Integration Joint Board in January.
