The troubled NHS Grampian health board has a appointed a new chief executive.
Malcolm Wright, who has served in the role on an interim basis since the early retirement of Richard Carey last October, has now taken on the job permanently.
His new role at the helm of body providing healthcare for the 500,000 people living in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray comes with a pay packet of up to £151,000.
The salary – more than those of Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – prompted raised eyebrows when the post was advertised earlier this year, although some said it reflected the scale of the challenge the successful candidate would be taking on.
Mr Wright, former chief executive of NHS Education Scotland since 2004, arrived in the north-east last year following a string of damaging headlines.
The board lost as its chairman, chief executive and medical director over the course of 2014, senior clinicians claimed medics were “exhausted” because of staff shortages and consultants said patients were being put at risk because key roles in the accident and emergency department were vacant.
A Healthcare Improvement Scotland review of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary found there were weaknesses in the leadership and management of the health board, and concerns were raised over staffing levels.
Yesterday, Mr Wright said the north-east board had already turned a corner.
“I’ve been here in an interim role for six months now, and I’ve seen huge improvements,” he said.
“We have world class facilities here and fantastic staff, NHS Grampian has everything to build on for the future, so I’m very excited to be appointed to this position.”
He insisted the board was making significant advances on a range of fronts.
“We’re making good progress with increasing the numbers of nursing and medical staff within the region, and spending a lot of time and attention on primary care and general practitioners, so yes we do have a lot of recruitment challenges but I think we’re making progress,” he said.
“Today the board announced an investment package of £15million into new services across the region, and we’re announcing a capital funding package of £150million which we’re taking across the region, so the message is one of support and development for our staff.
“As I announced at the board today we’ve just made a number of new appointments to the medical management structure, so that’s something that we’re going to continue to push out and reinforce.”