The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Humza Yousaf MSP, has today announced the appointments of seven new Non-Executive Directors to NHS Lothian Board.
They are; Nadin Akta, Philip Allenby, Andrew Fleming, Elizabeth Gordon, George Gordon, Peter Knight and Val de Souza.
Mrs Nadin Akta holds a MSc degree in Intercultural Business Communication and TESOL. Her interests are in cultures, cross cultures, barriers and challenges for ethnic minorities in Scotland and she has a wide knowledge from working with BME communities through her previous jobs in a professional capacity and through volunteering with charitable organisations across the Lothians.
Nadin previously work with East Lothian Council and other charity organisations as an Integration Coordinator and TESOL Teacher. More recently, she has been working at the University of Edinburgh as an Outreach and Projects Coordinator for the BME communities in the Lothians.
Mr Philip Allenby is a Scottish Solicitor and Notary Public, with over 20 years’ international legal and business experience. He was previously Chief Counsel, Governance and Compliance, Europe with BT plc. Phil is a lecturer and senior tutor at the University School of Law. He holds degrees in mathematics, information technology and law.
Mr Andrew Fleming is a retired senior civil servant with experience in designing and delivering strategic improvements across a range of public policy areas, including health, tax collection, justice, community safety, environment and heritage. He is currently Convenor of Evaluation Support Scotland – a charity which supports Third Sector organisations to measure their impact. Andrew has a professional background as a social researcher.
Mrs Elizabeth Gordon spent the first 10 years of her career as a Solicitor in private practice in the occupational pensions team of a large Scottish law firm. Her time working in this field included many years of significant and complex legal change as the UK Government transformed regulatory protection for members of occupational pension schemes. Clients included boards of trustees of UK-wide pension schemes and work involved advising on changes in the law and regulatory compliance, interpretation of trust deeds and pensions aspects of corporate transactions.
Elizabeth then took up a new post, with a wide-ranging remit, managing a large, independent provider of NHS dentistry in Edinburgh and has been there for over 14 years. Her focus has always been to ensure that the dental practices provide a service that prioritises safe, high quality NHS patient care and compliance alongside the wellbeing of the clinical team. Elizabeth looks forward to combining her experience and knowledge acquired in a primary care management setting with the skills developed from her legal education and background.
Mr George Gordon is a longstanding community activist who has instigated and set up numerous groups and organisations within his own community, which has given him a good skill set in the requirements of the local population both in areas of health, wellbeing and services that are vitally important in areas of multi-deprivation and poverty.
As the Sustainability Spokesperson for the City of Edinburgh Council, he has worked tirelessly to ensure long-term benefit in the capital; and as the Disability and Diversity Spokesperson he has ensured that all people are fairly represented and gain the services tailored to their own individual needs, which is in keeping with NHS Lothian’s patient centric goals and aspirations. He has served on various NHS Lothian committees in his Local Authority stakeholder member role and looks forward to continuing his work within the Board in highlighting disability issues that affect services and in ensuring that community and citizens are at the heart of all of our services.
Mr Peter Knight has been a leading information professional for NHSScotland for some four decades and brings wide perspectives on the development and use of data in support of decision making.
His experience has spanned quality of NHS care, future planning, health and social care integration and topics in public health. He has worked at all levels: directly with clinicians and front-line health and social care professionals through to informing the decision-making of Chief Executives and Chief Officers. He has had spells in the Scottish Government supporting the development of health and social care policy, monitoring NHS performance and advising Ministers. Latterly, his interests have included older people services and the development of information in social care and primary care. Peter is shortly to retire from NHS employment.
Mrs Val de Souza is a Social Worker by profession and has held a number of senior leadership roles in health, social care and social work in Scotland. She spent the last 5 years as Chief Officer for South Lanarkshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), and Director of Social Services, working across NHS Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire Council. In these roles Val was responsible for community health services, primary care, palliative care, allied health professionals and social work services. Prior to this she was acting Chief Officer for Stirling and Clackmannanshire HSCP and the Chief Social Work Officer for these two local authorities, which included responsibility for two national prisons, Glenochil and Cortonvale. Val was instrumental in introducing and implementing the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 and continues to have a keen interest in all aspects of Public Protection and social justice.
With over 30 years’ experience of strategic and operational management she is committed to promoting interagency collaboration and multidisciplinary working. She is a graduate of University College Dublin, and holds postgraduate qualifications from the Universities of Edinburgh and Robert Gordon Business School. Val has recently been appointed Chair of the Bairns Hoose, and is a professional adviser for Positive Help, an Edinburgh based charity supporting child and families affected by HIV and Hepatitis C.
They will play an important role in helping to set the strategic direction of NHS Lothian as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and remobilise our services.
By providing purposeful scrutiny and assurance on the decisions the Board makes, Non-Executive Directors ensure the Executive Leadership Team is held to account and supported to manage risks to the quality, deliverability and sustainability of service. They are also important in giving public confidence that the Board acts in the best interests of patients and the public.
To read more about the appointments please see the Scottish Government’s announcement.
