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.