THE new chief executive of NHS Highland has pledged to bring "world-class health and social care" to the north of Scotland.
Iain Stewart has been appointed to replace Elaine Mead, who stepped down on December 31 after nearly nine years in the post.
Mr Stewart's appointment comes at a troubled time for the health board, with a QC-led inquiry currently underway into claims from senior clinicians that NHS Highland has been blighted by a culture of bullying and harassment "emanating from the very top".
Read more: NHS Highland medics blast 'culture of fear and intimidation'
It is also facing a projected budget shortfall of £19.9m for 2018/19, and a critical external review in July 2018 recommended that the board's leadership undergo formal training to improve how they govern.
Mr Stewart, who is originally from Stornoway and lives on the Black Isle, will leave his current post as deputy chief of commissioning of the NHS Mid-Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Groups to take up the new role at NHS Highland.
The post of chief executive at NHS Highland is being filled on an interim basis by Dr Gregor Smith, the deputy chief medical officer for Scotland.
Read more: QC John Sturrock to lead Highland bullying probe
Mr Stewart, who has held a number of senior NHS positions in England and Wales, said: “I have provided senior operational and transformational leadership to various NHS organisations, managing multiple acute hospitals, mental health, community and strategic commissioning throughout England and North Wales.
"It is now time for me to consolidate these experiences and, together, I believe we can continue to build a world class health and social care service for the north of Scotland.”
Read more: Six former NHS Highland directors back independent bullying probe
Health secretary Jeane Freeman said: “I am pleased that Iain Stewart has accepted the role of chief executive of NHS Highland.
"He has important experience in the public sector, including the health service, and I wish him well in this critical leadership role."
NHS Highland chair, David Alston, added: “I am delighted that Iain has accepted this appointment. He brings a passion for the NHS and for improvement, and a personal commitment to the Highlands and its people.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here