Calls to investigate NHS board departures

Calls have been made to investigate the board at NHS Fife following a string of senior departures.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie claimed morale is at “rock bottom” and has called for the Scottish Government to launch an investigation.

The most recent departure came earlier this month when Simon Little resigned as a non-executive board member.

Chief operating officer Scott Mclean left in July and non-executive director John Paterson quit in January.

Previous chair Allan Burns left in December 2016 and was replaced by former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament, Tricia Marwick.

Mr Rennie said: “Since 2016 NHS Fife has lost a chairman, a senior director and two senior board members.

“These are all senior people with outstanding records of public service and leadership.

“Four departures of senior people in just two years indicates that something is going wrong at the heart of the organisation.

“I’ve had concerns for more than seven months and took those concerns to the Scottish Government earlier this year.”

NHS Fife said it was one of the better performing boards in Scotland and governance procedures had been reviewed.