Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Former chief medic at NHS Grampian takes up job on Orkney following retirement

Former NHS Grampian medical director Roelf Djikhuizen
Former NHS Grampian medical director Roelf Djikhuizen

A top doctor who retired from crisis-hit NHS Grampian is to take up a new senior position in Orkney.

Former medical director Dr Roelf Dijkhuizen, 58, announced his retirement in April and left his £160,000 position in Aberdeen last month.

He is one of three senior figures who have departed the board in the past six weeks.

It has now emerged Dr Dijkhuizen, who is from the Netherlands, will take up a temporary position in Kirkwall following his retirement.

He will support the work of NHS Orkney medical director Marthinus Roos, who is responsible for the development of the new £59million Balfour Hospital.

NHS Orkney chief executive Cathie Cowan said: “Marthinus Roos remains our medical director.

“However, during work on the development of a new Balfour Hospital, he will receive assistance from Dr Roelf Dijkhuizen and NHS Orkney clinicians Charles Siderfins and Paul Cooper.

“Dr Dijkhuizen will lead on the Scottish Patient Safety Programme on a short term basis.

“I am delighted to welcome him to the NHS Orkney team.”

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) aims to improve reliability of healthcare and its delivery.

Dr Dijkhuisen served as medical director at Grampian for 10 years.

He studied tropical nutrition at the Agricultural University in Wageningen, the Netherlands and worked for short spells in Africa before he took up medicine.

Immediately after graduation he came to the United Kingdom in 1988 and worked in the London area for a period of 4 years.

He arrived in Aberdeen to pursue a career in infectious diseases but went on to set up the acute stroke service for Grampian.

In one of his last moves as medical director, Dr Dijkhuisen told MSPs at Holyrood on October 1 that NHS Grampian had been shortchanged to the tune of £1billion over the past decade.

Dr Dijkhuisen, the former link between the hospital executive and frontline service, was still in position as consultants started to rebel over staffing shortages and working conditions.

His departure was quickly followed by announcements that chairman Bill Howatson and chief executive Richard Carey will also exit NHS Grampian.

He has been replaced in Aberdeen by Dr Nick Fluck.